Muridke (Pakistan): A video allegedly featuring Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Qaasim has emerged online, challenging Pakistan’s denials of Indian strike damage. In the clip, Qaasim is seen among the ruins of the Markaz Taiba camp in Muridke, Punjab province, acknowledging its destruction during Operation Sindoor.
“I am standing in front of the Markaz Taiba in Muridke… It was destroyed in the attack. We will be rebuilding it and making it even bigger,” Qaasim said. He admitted the camp had produced many fighters, including Mujahideens and Talaba, and vowed its reconstruction on a larger scale.
The LeT commander’s remarks follow a similar statement from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, who confirmed that the Markaz Subhan Allah headquarters in Bahawalpur was demolished in the same operation. Kashmiri also revealed that the family of JeM chief Masood Azhar had been killed in the strike.
These back-to-back admissions bolster India’s assertion that nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir served as active terror hubs targeted during the May 7 retaliatory operation, carried out after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
In another portion of the video, Qaasim appealed to young recruits to join the Daura-e-Suffa programme, which provides basic combat training and ideological indoctrination. Established in 2000, the Markaz Taiba facility had long served as LeT’s main training base, offering arms drills, physical conditioning, and radicalisation courses for recruits from Pakistan and abroad, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the JeM-run Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, operational since 2015, functioned as the group’s primary hub for training and indoctrination. It has been linked to multiple terror plots, including the 2019 Pulwama attack.
While the authenticity of the newly surfaced video could not be independently verified, its circulation has intensified scrutiny of Pakistan-based militant infrastructure.
