As Imran Khan seeks to ‘rebuild’ Pakistan, reports on new JeM terror academy surface

JeM is said to be constructing a massive 15-acre complex on the outskirts of Bahawalpur city in Punjab province where thousands of its young recruits will be trained for jihad.
ISLAMABAD: Hours after Pakistan’s PM-designate and PTI chief Imran Khan’s announcement to ‘rebuild’ Pakistan, a report on dreaded terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) building a new terror training academy has come to fore.
According to the ‘First Post’ report, the Masood Azhar-led outfit is said to be constructing a massive 15-acre complex on the outskirts of Bahawalpur city in Punjab province where thousands of its young recruits will be trained for jihad and anti-India purpose.
The construction of the building is being carried out in a clandestine manner, the report said.
If the report is to be believed, the complex being built by the JeM will be a massive one – five times the size of its existing headquarters in the city.
The shocking report about the JeM’s new terror academy comes at a time when the PTI chief has elaborated on his plans to weed out corruption and make Pakistan a respectable nation in the world.
JeM is also among several Pakistan-based terror outfits which are carrying out jihad in Kashmir with an aim to merge it into Pakistan.
In the run-up to the parliamentary polls, the Massod Azhar-led group had strongly campaigned against former PM Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, putting its entire weight around Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf.
JeM and several terror groups had vociferous campaigned against PML-N and labelled Nawaz Sharif as a ”traitor to Pakistan and Islam.”
Since the banned terror outfit is believed to have aided in the landslide victory of Imran Khan-led PTI, it would be interesting to see what action the new government in Pakistan will take against the group if it is serious about maintaining cordial ties with India.
In view of growing international pressure on Pakistan to act against non-state actors, the political establishment has chalked out a 26-point action plan to rein in terror financing.
The sanctions imposed by the government against the banned terror groups are likely to come into effect from September next year.
According to local government records, cited by the report, the land for the new JeM terror academy was purchased directly by Masood Azhar.
It is to be noted that JeM has carried out several terror attacks in India, including the December 2001 attack on Parliament and the Pathankot IAF airbase in January 2016.
The JeM leadership, which hopes to make the Bahawalpur academy as the center of all its Jihadi operations, is reaching out to people, especially in the Punjab province, to raise funds by addressing mosque congregations.