Rauf Azhar, IC-814 hijacking mastermind and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist, was killed in 'Operation Sindoor' by the Indian forces. He was killed in Pakistan's Bahawalpur after India struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Wednesday morning (May 7). Rauf was the younger brother of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar who organised, planned and executed the IC-814 hijacking in December 1999 that finally ended after the Vajpayee government agreed to release his brother Masood Azhar and two other major terrorists, India and the United States said in their joint proposal to the UN Security Council, that detailed several attacks Azhar masterminded, from the Parliament attack to Pulwama bombing.
Who was Rauf Azhar?
Abdul Rauf Azhar was a Pakistani Deobandi Jihadist cleric and militant who served as the supreme commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed. He took the command of the Jaish-e-Mohammed on April 21, 2007 and was one of the most wanted persons in India due to his history of activities against India.
Rauf Azhar, the operational chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, was just 24-years-old when he masterminded the hijacking of IC-814 Indian Airlines commercial flight in 1999, which led India to finally release his elder brother, Maulana Masood Azhar. Since then, Azhar, who is among India’s top five ‘most wanted’ terrorists, has planned every major Jaish attack in India- including the 2001 'fidayeen' attacks on Jammu and Kashmir assembly and Parliament, 2016 Pathankot IAF base attack, attacks on Nagrota and Kathua camps and the recent Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, on direct orders from Azhar.
According to Indian intelligence agencies and NIA, Azhar takes virtually every decision for JeM in the absence of Masood Azhar, who has not been keeping well. When JeM went underground for a few years following assassination attempts on then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, it was Azhar who spearheaded the reorganisation of the outfit by travelling to Afghanistan and meeting the Taliban.
Azhar was in-charge of setting up terror camps in Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK), and inside Pakistan, including Balakot, which was hit by IAF air strikes, Manshera and Muzaffarabad. He also motivates the JeM cadres, liaises with the Pakistan government and ISI, prepares JeM’s propaganda material in the form of audio and video clips, arranges funds and makes contacts with other terror outfits.
