The Indian armed forces this week carried out Operation Sindoor, a series of precision air strikes against nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Among those reportedly killed was Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander long suspected of orchestrating the December 2002 abduction, torture and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Two respected journalists—Asra Nomani, Pearl’s former colleague, and Middle East analyst Amy Mek—have publicly thanked India for striking the network that bred Pearl’s killers. Their personal accounts underscore the deep symbolism behind these strikes, which India says were launched in response to a recent terror rampage in Kashmir.
“Bahawalpur”—A Name That Still Haunts
In late January 2002, Asra Nomani accompanied Daniel Pearl to Bahawalpur, a southern Punjab city that, to this day, she describes as “a base for Pakistan’s homegrown terrorists.” Pearl’s mission was straightforward yet daring: to interview militant operatives face-to-face.
“He literally knocked on their doors,” Nomani recalls.
“He went with nothing but a notebook and pen—no bodyguards, no security.”
Pearl’s local fixer, Asif Farooqi, had arranged his appointments through a man known as “Arif,” the public-relations contact for Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in Bahawalpur. When Pakistani authorities discovered Arif’s role in facilitating militant training, they staged a fake funeral for him. He fled to Muzaffarabad, just across the Line of Control—another town India says was hit in this week’s strikes.
From Arif, Pearl was handed to Omar Sheikh, the British-Pakistani radical student who ultimately kidnapped Pearl in Karachi. Sheikh had trained in Bahawalpur’s camps alongside Masood Azhar, founder of JeM, and his brother Abdul Rauf Azhar—the latter now believed killed in Operation Sindoor’s attack on the Shawai Nallah camp.
“When I heard India bombed Bahawalpur, I felt both relief and sorrow,” Nomani wrote on X formerly Twitter.
“Relief that these terror hubs are being dismantled—and sorrow that it took so long.”
Precision Strikes, Strategic Impact
Operation Sindoor unfolded in the pre-dawn hours of May 6–7. Coordinated by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, it employed loitering munitions, SCALP and AASM Hammer missiles launched from Rafale fighters, and pinpoint drone strikes.
- Four sites in Pakistan proper—Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sialkot and one near Bhimber Gali—were shelled.
- Five sites in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including Shawai Nallah and Syedna Bilal camps in Muzaffarabad, plus facilities in Kotli and Barnala, were destroyed.
India’s Ministry of Defence emphasised that no Pakistani military installations were targeted, underscoring the operation’s “measured, non-escalatory” design. According to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, the strikes aimed to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure” while sparing civilian life and property.
“Justice for Daniel Pearl”
On social media, New York–based analyst Amy Mek hailed the operation as overdue justice.
“Today, India delivered justice for the brutal murder of American-Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl by eliminating Abdul Rauf Azhar,” she wrote on X.
“This is a clear message: nations that shelter terrorists will pay the price.”
Mek noted that Abdul Rauf Azhar had directly plotted Pearl’s execution and, as JeM’s operational commander, had overseen cross-border attacks on civilians in India. His removal, she argued, strikes at the heart of the network that has “exported terror for decades.”
A New Chapter in Counter-Terror Strategy
Analysts say ‘Operation Sindoor‘ represents a watershed in India’s approach to cross-border terrorism. By striking deep inside Pakistan’s heartland, where intelligence agencies and military patrons were long accused of colluding with extremist networks, New Delhi has signalled a readiness to act decisively against those who target civilians and journalists.
Pakistan’s government has denounced the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty and responded with ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. Still, the global journalistic community largely views the action as a measure of accountability.
Dr Yosuf Pearl, Daniel’s father, lauded India’s precision strikes for “honouring Danny’s memory” and “sending a powerful signal that no journalist should ever be a target.”
For Asra Nomani, Amy Mek and many others, Operation Sindoor is more than a military action—it is the long-delayed vindication of a promise that those who murder the truth will not go unpunished.
Credit: Asra Nomani (X); Amy Mek (X);
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