After the destruction of nine terror bases in Operation Sindoor, Pakistan’s state-sponsored terror groups are shifting tactics and geography, moving hubs away from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
Exclusive videos and photographs gathered by ABP News reveal that Pakistan-backed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has begun expanding its camp in Mansehra district of KPK.
Last Sunday, a recruitment drive was organised in Mansehra’s Garhi Habibullah town, co-hosted by JeM and the religious-political outfit Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). The event was attended by JeM’s KPK and Kashmir Amir Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, alias Abu Mohammad, a wanted terrorist in India and close aide of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar.
Apart from JeM, Hizbul Mujahideen is also constructing a new training centre in Lower Dir.
JeM’s Recruitment Drive in Mansehra Raises Alarm
According to visuals assessed by ABP News, the JeM recruitment gathering was staged around seven hours before the India–Pakistan cricket match began. The event, held jointly with JUI, saw Masood Ilyas Kashmiri openly address the crowd. He recited praise for Osama bin Laden, referring to him as “Shohada-e-Islam and Prince of Arab”, and spoke about JeM’s links with Pakistan’s army and the Shehbaz Sharif government.
In his more than 30-minute speech, Kashmiri declared that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had historically sheltered Mujahideen, including Osama bin Laden and Maulana Masood Azhar. He reminded the audience that after the Kandahar hijack and Azhar’s release from Tihar Jail in India, Balakot was made JeM’s base. He added that JeM owed a debt to KPK for always providing shelter to terrorists.
Kashmiri claimed that after the 7 May Indian strike on JeM’s Marakaz Subhanallah, which killed Masood Azhar’s relatives, the army chief (now Field Marshal) Asim Munir ordered from GHQ that commanders should attend the funerals of JeM operatives killed in the strikes. He further alleged that the Pakistan Air Force was tasked with providing security for the funerals and soldiers were ordered to salute the terrorists in uniform. Kashmiri argued this proved JeM had effectively brought Pakistan’s government and military into the jihadi fold.
In his address, he also appealed to hundreds of attendees to join JeM, defending killings in the name of jihad. “Two nuclear powers India and Pakistan are fighting with each other, and we should feel proud because this happened due to one man, Maulana Masood Azhar,” Kashmiri told the gathering.
Expansion of JeM Camps Near Afghan Border
A short distance from the Mansehra gathering, JeM operates the Marakaz Shohada-e-Islam training centre. Exclusive visuals obtained by ABP News show that JeM has intensified efforts to expand this camp since Operation Sindoor. Sources say this expansion is intended to replace four camps destroyed by Indian strikes and to shift operational depth away from the Indian border towards the Afghan frontier.
At the Sunday gathering, commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri repeatedly urged locals to join JeM and take part in jihad.
Although JeM and JUI publicly described the event as part of a “Deobandi gathering,” sources confirmed to ABP News that it was in fact a recruitment drive for Marakaz Shohada-e-Islam, facilitated with the help of JUI. Permission for the event was reportedly obtained through JUI.
Profile of JeM Commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri
JeM’s terror commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, originally named Abu Muhammad, hails from Rawalkot in PoK and has been linked with JeM since 2001. He fought against NATO forces in Afghanistan on behalf of JeM until 2006, before returning to Pakistan in 2007 to become the group’s Rawalkot district commander. He established the Marakaz Shohada-e-Kashmir training facility there.
After the U.S. strike in 2011 that killed Al-Qaeda’s Brigade 313 leader Ilyas Kashmiri, Abu Muhammad is said to have adopted the nom de guerre Masood Ilyas Kashmiri. He later became JeM’s Amir for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, charged with radicalising local youth and dispatching cadres to Kashmir and Afghanistan.
In 2019, after the abrogation of Article 370 and the waning influence of Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM in Jammu and Kashmir, both groups jointly formed a new and more lethal brigade named the Hilal-ul-Haq Brigade. Leadership of this brigade was given to Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, with Rizwan Hanif appointed as his deputy commander on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba. This joint Lashkar–Jaish unit currently operates under the pseudonym People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF).
Kashmiri also has a history of terrorist operations in India. In 2018, JeM terrorists carried out a suicide attack on the Indian Army’s camp in Sunjuwan, killing six soldiers and one civilian. According to the chargesheet filed by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), the masterminds behind the Sunjuwan attack were JeM chief Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, and PoK-based JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, alias Abu Mohammad. They not only planned the attack but also provided weapons and logistical support to the attackers.
JeM Rallies Held Under Police Protection
Despite JeM being designated by the UN Security Council in 2001 and reportedly proscribed domestically, rallies are being held openly under police watch. At last Sunday’s Mansehra gathering, police officers, including Inspector Liaqat Shah of Garhi Habibullah police station, were seated on the platform. Shockingly, JeM fighters carrying M4 rifles were visible on stage in front of police personnel.
According to a pamphlet exclusively accessed by ABP News, JeM intends to hold another event in Peshawar’s Marakaz Shaheed Maksudabad on 25 September. The memorial and recruitment campaign will commemorate Yusuf Azhar, Masood Azhar’s brother, who was killed in Operation Sindoor. The event will reportedly be held under JeM’s cover name Al-Murabitun, with senior figures expected to attend.
Foreign affairs analyst Robinder Sachdev told ABP News that the spectacle of proscribed terrorists holding public rallies under police protection — while Pakistan currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council — undermines the council’s authority and raises troubling questions about Pakistan’s counter-terrorism posture.
Hizbul Mujahideen Expands Presence in Lower Dir
Apart from JeM’s activities, Hizbul Mujahideen is also developing a new training centre in Bandaai area of Lower Dir, naming the facility HM 313. Exclusive photos available with ABP News show boundary walls and construction in progress. The camp is reportedly overseen by Hizbul commander Khalid Khan, a former Pakistani commando. Land for the project was purchased in August last year, and construction has now resumed.
According to intelligence sources, these developments reflect how militant groups are adapting after the heavy losses inflicted by Indian operations. Both JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen are shifting bases deeper inside Pakistan, moving infrastructure toward the Afghan border and away from the Kashmir front.
Sources assess that this relocation is aimed at reducing their visibility to Indian intelligence agencies. They believe that operating out of KPK will make it harder for India to conduct targeted strikes in the future — especially since Operation Sindoor had left JeM’s Mansehra and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Garhi Habibullah camps untouched.
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