New Delhi: Punjab-based proscribed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has openly used its latest mosque building campaign as both a fundraising drive and a recruitment platform, with chief Masood Azhar himself featured in messaging to cadres — countering persistent speculation that poor health and Operation Sindoor had sidelined him. The campaign, styled as the “Masajid Lillah Muhim” (Mosques for Allah Campaign), ended on 18 September, Pakistan-based sources aware of the development told The Sunday Guardian.
Posters and pamphlets invoked Azhar’s name, describing him as presiding over the effort, and a closing “audio letter” delivered by him was distributed widely in and around Punjab and near Bahawalpur, where Jaish’s leadership is concentrated.
According to JeM’s own accounting, the group, which had set a target of completing 313 mosques when the campaign was started a few months ago, has completed 152 of them while laying foundations for several more this year.
In the last interaction of this campaign, Azhar was personally present, sources said.
Alongside mosque ap peals, JeM issued a detailed financial report for a special flood-relief initiative worth 3 million Pakistani rupees, claiming the preparation of 895 ration packages at a total cost of just over 3.15 million rupees. The group listed distributions in Swabi, Sialkot, Khairpur Tamewali, Fatuwali, Jalalpur Pirwala, Uch Sharif, Pul Sadiqabad and Ahmadpur Sharqia, presenting it as evidence of ground-level service. Intelligence officials said such reports serve a dual purpose: projecting legitimacy through humanitarian relief while simultaneously creating fresh avenues for donations and cadre recruitment.
Sources note that along-side fundraising appeals, the propaganda carried pointed political lines — from discouraging ties with Jews and Christians to overt expressions of support for Hamas. One set of posters directly linked mosque donations with building “fortresses of Islam” and promised recruits spiritual rewards for participation, in an attempt to bring in more people into the outfit which has carried out multiple terror attacks against India in the last two decades.
The materials were also widely circulated through multiple JeM online outlets, serving as both rallying calls and evidence of Azhar’s continuing visibility.
A member of another armed group told The Sunday Guardian that the initiative “got a good response, money came in, people joined. It was happening openly.”
Analysts say the testimony underscores how JeM is able to conduct such campaigns in public view despite being banned under Pakistani law and proscribed by the United Nations.
The renewed push comes just months after Operation Sindoor, India’s crossborder strikes launched on 7 May in response to the 22 April Pahalgam massacre. Indian forces had targeted nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir tied to JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba infrastructure. Among them were JeM-linked locations in Bahawalpur, the group’s long-time strong hold, including mosques and seminaries used for indoctrination and cadre training. Reports suggest members of Azhar’s own family were killed in those strikes, something which was first revealed by The Sunday Guardian just hours after the air strike.
Masood Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist, remains the central figure in JeM’s activities. Freed from Indian custody in 1999 after the Kandahar hijacking, he established the group in Bahawalpur in 2000.
Indian security officials stated that the current campaign highlights how JeM continues to function in the open, using mosque-building and relief narratives to mask recruitment and financing, even as Islamabad insists the group has been curbed.
