A new audio recording, allegedly featuring the voice of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, has emerged on social media platforms, making bold claims about the terror group's strength. In the clip, the speaker asserts that JeM now commands "thousands" of suicide bombers who are prepared for immediate action.
Propaganda Push Amidst Major Setbacks
The audio surfaced concurrently with another video featuring Saifullah Kasuri, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) deputy chief and alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam attack. In his video, Kasuri claims the Pakistan army invited him to lead funeral prayers for its soldiers killed during Operation Sindoor in May 2025. Both clips were disseminated by accounts believed to be supportive of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on Telegram and X.
Security sources indicate these messages are a desperate propaganda effort to revive groups suffering devastating losses. Operation Sindoor, a series of precision strikes by Indian security forces, reportedly decimated JeM's infrastructure in Bahawalpur and eliminated at least 10 of Azhar's close relatives and top aides.
Defiant Claims and Hollow Threats?
In the latest recording, a defiant voice, purportedly Azhar's, boasts that the true number of his followers would "cause an uproar in the global media" if revealed. He states these recruits are fanatically obsessed with achieving "martyrdom" and care nothing for material possessions like cars, motorcycles, or foreign visas. "They only ask Allah for 1 thing: martyrdom," the UN-designated terrorist claims.
However, defence and security experts have largely dismissed these assertions as a "hollow threat". They interpret the audio as a sign of severe frustration within the terror outfit's crippled leadership. "This audio appears to be a calculated effort to save face after the group’s leadership was 'torn to pieces', as recently admitted by other JeM commanders," a source revealed.
Shadowy Existence and Security Scrutiny
Interestingly, Masood Azhar has not been seen in public since a 2019 blast at his Bahawalpur hideout, fueling persistent speculation about his health and whereabouts. This audio clip, while providing no visual proof of his current condition, suggests the terror mastermind is still attempting to exert influence from deep within a safe haven in Pakistan.
Indian security agencies are now meticulously analysing the voice samples and metadata of the clip. Their objectives are twofold: to verify its authenticity and origin, and to assess the current threat level posed by JeM's surviving sleeper cells in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor's successes.
The emergence of these coordinated messages from the depths of Pakistan-based terror infrastructure underscores a continued need for vigilance, even as their content is widely seen as a reaction to significant operational and psychological defeats inflicted by Indian forces.
