Maulana Masood Azhar on death bed, suffering from spinal cancer

New Delhi, Mar 04: There were unconfirmed reports that suggested that Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar had died.

While the intelligence says that they are gathering reports, one official tells OneIndia that there is confirmation that he is not dead. The officer however confirmed that Azhar has not been in public since 2017 and is admitted at an army hospital in Rawalpindi, where he is undergoing treatment for spinal cancer.

These reports emerged in the wake of Pakistan's foreign minister recently saying that Azhar is very unwell. He is unwell to the extent that he cannot leave his house, because he is really unwell, the minister had also said in an intervention with CNN.

Officials also explain that Pakistan cannot let go of Azhar at this crucial juncture. Firstly, he is their proxy in the war against India. Secondly, Pakistan is playing a crucial role in the US-Taliban mediation in Afghanistan. Azhar is close to the Taliban leadership and hence protecting him becomes important as well, officials also explain.

With the JeM chief, Maulana Masood Azhar hospitalised, the entire operation is being run by his brothers. The facility at Bahawalpur houses a modern building. It also houses state of the terror training camps and can hold up to 300 to 400 terrorists at any given time, India also said.

An official tells OneIndia that the JeM also runs camps in Balochistan and also in strongholds of the Taliban that include, Khyber and Spin Boldak passes. With Azhar in hospital, the man in command today is Ibrahim Azhar. He is also in charge of the Afghanistan operations of the JeM and works closely with the Taliban.

It may be recalled that Ibrahim's son Usman Hyder was killed in an encounter n Jammu and Kashmir's Tral on October 30 2018. His younger son, Mohammad Umair is currently in the Valley and was the mastermind of the Pulwama attack.

Apart from Ibrahim, the outfit is also being run by Masood Azhar's sons Abdullah and Wali. India's dossier says that both sons play an active role in radicalising cadres for the JeM.

The India operations of the JeM are today largely overseen by Abdul Rauf Asghar, who is the brother of Maulana Masood Azhar. His other two brothers, Maulana Ammar and Talha Saif too play key roles in the running the outfit. Masood Azhar's brother-in-law, Yusuf Azhar who was in charge of the Balakot operations is said to have lost his life in the air strike.