Pakistan-based terror groups, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), have been shifting their bases from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province since India launched Operation Sindoor, reports said.
India launched the military strike against terrorist hubs in Pakistan and PoK on May 7 in retaliation to the Pahalgam attack. Terror centres in Bahawalpur, Muridke, Muzaffarabad and several other places were destroyed in the Indian attack.
According to sources in the defence and military establishment, the relocation of terror bases reflects a significant "tactical adaptation" as these groups now view PoK vulnerable to Indian strikes, reported PTI.
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"The inputs indicate that this movement by the terror groups is being conducted with full awareness and direct facilitation of Pakistan's state structures," one of the sources told the news agency.
The JeM had recently held gatherings in certain places in Pakistan under police protection, which also saw "tacit involvement" of political-religious outfits like Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI).
Sources said hours before the India-Pakistan cricket match in Dubai on September 14, JeM held a public recruitment drive in Garhi Habibullah town of Mansehra district in KPK. The rally was guarded by both JeM cadres armed with M4 rifles and local police officers.
Mulana Mufti Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, alias Abu Mohammad, a senior JeM leader for KPK and Kashmir, was also present at the drive.
According to reports, these details are part of a dossier prepared jointly by several Indian security and intelligence agencies.
India launched Operation Sindoor weeks after terrorists, who sneaked in from Pakistan, sprayed bullets at a group of tourists in Pahalgam, killing 26 people.
The retaliation also sparked a military confrontation between India and Pakistan, which ended on May 10 after a ceasefire agreement was reached by both countries.
India, however, has maintained that Operation Sindoor has not ended and any future act of terror will be considered as an act of war against it.
