Pak-based JeM launches Rs 3.91 bn fundraising drive after losses during Op Sindoor

After suffering severe setbacks during Operation Sindoor, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit has launched a massive fundraising drive in that country under the garb of building over 300 mosques to replicate Lashkar-e-Taiba’s decentralisation policy, security officials said.

The JeM has come out with a new mechanism with the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to collect funds. It is using digital wallets like ‘EasyPaisa’ and ‘Sadapay’ controlled by its founder and most wanted terrorist Masood Azhar’s family members to bypass scrutiny by global agencies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the officials said citing inputs from across the border.

The Rs 3.91 billion fundraising drive would secure JeM’s operational and weapons financing for at least a decade, they said. Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7 in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack.

The officials said the JeM’s headquarters ‘Markaz Subhanallah’, along with four other training camps — Markaz Bilal, Markaz Abbas, Mahmona Joya and the Sargal camps – were destroyed during Operation Sindoor.

While Pakistan’s government has announced funding to rebuild these destroyed facilities, the JeM has launched an online fundraising campaign through digital wallets to collect Rs 3.91 billion for constructing 313 new markaz buildings under the garb of constructing mosques across Pakistan, the officials said.

On social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, JeM-linked proxy accounts and those used by JeM commanders have posted posters, videos and a letter from Masood Azhar, urging supporters to donate wholeheartedly as each mosque requires Rs 12.5 million (Rs 1.25 crore) for construction and smooth running, they said.

According to the officials, several of the digital wallet accounts were found linked to the mobile number of Azhar’s brother Talha Al Saif (Talha Gulzar) and JeM Haripur district commander Aftab Ahmad based in Khala Batt Township.

They said another fundraising channel was linked to a mobile number run by Azhar’s son Abdullah Azhar (Abdullah Khan), while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, JeM commander Syed Safdar Shah is collecting donations for the organisation’s markaz via a number registered near Melwarah post office, Oghi, Mansehra district.

In addition to these three accounts, over 250 EasyPaisa wallets are reportedly being used to raise funds for the JeM’s fundraising campaign. Alongside social media appeals, the terror outfit circulated an audio recording of Azhar’s brother, Al Saif, via its official propaganda channel, MSTD Official, urging supporters to contribute Rs 21,000 per person, the officials said.

The speech was delivered at a gathering at Markaz Usman-o-Ali during a Friday congregation on August 15. In the audio clip, Al Saif also instructed the establishment of 20 new markaz this year, as part of JeM’s overall target of 313 centres, the officials said citing JeM’s organisational posters and videos.

To build these mosques, the officials said the JeM may have two key motives — first, to replicate LeT’s vast markaz network, decentralising its training camps so that future Indian strikes would have minimal impact on its terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

Second, to establish secure, lavish safe houses for Azhar and his family to allow Pakistan to maintain plausible deniability about their whereabouts, the officials said.

Under this plan, three-four large markaz centres would function as safe houses, medium-sized facilities would serve as training camps and the remainder would handle logistics, allowing JeM to operate nationwide while Pakistan’s government continues to deny Azhar’s presence, they said.