Operation Sindoor: The Terror Camps in Pakistan and PoK That India Hit

New Delhi has retaliated against the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and rained missiles on Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) at 1:44 AM on May 7, 2025. As per the press briefing the same morning, the government said it had targeted nine terror camps. These include Sawai Nala camp in Muzaffarabad, and Syedna Bilal camp inside PoK.

Sawai Nala camp is 30 km inside Pakistan, and is allegedly one of the training camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), while Syedna Bilal camp in PoK is said to be the Jaish-e-Mohammed바카라�s (JeM) staging ground. The former is also said to be a centre for arms and ammunition and training.

For decades, India has accused Pakistan of hosting terror camps. As recently as October 2020, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gazette stated that designated militant Abdul Rauf Azhar, a JeM operative, had said he was 바카라�involved in setting up training camps in Pakistan바카라�. In the same note, the MHA said Azhar planned the Kandahar hijacking, Parliament attack, Pathankot attack from these camps. The MHA gazette said that the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader Ghulam Nabi Khan, attended바카라�Hizb-ul-Muhahideen training camps바카라� and was 바카라�launching detachments in various areas of Muzaffarabad, PoK바카라�.

Balakot, which India attacked in 2019, was, according to Indian intelligence reports, a 바카라�five-star바카라� style site바카라�with a swimming pool, cooks and cleaners, and housing for 500-700 militants.

According to satellite imagery obtained by TheTimes of India, JeM바카라�s Bahawalpur headquarters,which was established in 2000 under MasoodAzhar바카라�s leadership, is the terror outfit바카라�s hub for recruitment and indoctrination. The facility has, reportedly, a gymnasium, swimming pool, stables and student hostels to house up to 600 personnel. It was built under the guise of 바카라�Jamia Masjid SubhanAllah바카라� and a related madrasa. The JeM바카라�sBahawalpur campus also has stables for up to a dozen horses, used for mounted drills, say reports.

The Times of India reports reveal that the JeMformed its 18-acre headquarters at the Jamia MasjidSubhan Allah complex, locally called the Usman-o-Ali campus in Bahawalpur, Punjab. This site is the centre for all JeM recruitment, fundraising, religious indoctrination, weapons training and small arms handling, and tactical instructions in map-reading and GPS.

LeT바카라�s Muridke camp, Markaz-e-Taiba, which was established in 1988, sits on a 200 acre plot, just 30 km from Lahore. Called the 바카라�terror nursery바카라�, it has been described as a well-equipped facility with a madrasa, ranges institute, residential quarters, a fish farm, and agricultural land.

There are several other training camps beyond Muridke and Bahawalpur. Areas of PoK and north Punjab are reportedly the home of many training hubs. These include the Umm-al-Qura in Muzaffarabad, which reportedly trains as many as 500 recruits a month, and focuses on advanced guerrilla tactics and explosives.

The Syedna Bilal Camp, which India hit, is also in Muzaffarabad. According to a The Times of India report, the camp바카라�s specialty is training of militants for warfare and imparting infiltration techniques in mountainous regions.

Apart from these, there are reportedly smaller 바카라�launch pads바카라� for infiltration in Sialkot, Kotli, TehraKalan, and Bhimber. Media reports say these areas function as cell-level radicalisation centres after which militants are transferred to larger hubs.

The Global Terrorism Index (2017) highlighted that over half of the Islamist militant attacks in South Asia originated from LeT and Hizbul Mujahideennetworks embedded within Pakistan바카라�s spy network. India had also shared with Pakistan a dossier with a list of 22 locations of terror camps in 2019 after the Pulwama terror attack. Islamabad had at that time said it would allow visits for investigation, but also insisted that no such camps existed. 바카라�The 22 pin locations shared by India have been examined. No such camps exist. Pakistan is willing to allow visits, on request, to these locations,바카라� Pakistan바카라�s Foreign Office had said.

However, the US Country Reports, as recently as in 2019 and 2021, have confirmed India바카라�s observations. 바카라�Pakistan continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups,바카라� said the 2019 Country Report on Terrorism in the section for Pakistan. The US report said that Pakistan 바카라�allowed groups targeting Afghanistan (Taliban, Haqqani) and India (LeT/JUD, JeM) to operate from its territory바카라�. The report also said that Pakistan was harbouringwanted terrorists, such as LeT commander Sajid Mir, who is considered the mastermind of 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. JeM바카라�s Masood Azhar and Mir 바카라�are widely believed to reside in Pakistan under the protection of the state, despite government denials바카라�, the report says.

This is not a big change since the US intelligence and policy reports have been flagging Pakistan as a terror sanctuary since 2004. A 2004 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report Terrorism in South Asia said that in May 2003, the then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf바카라�s pledge to shut down terrorist training camps in Pakistani-controlled areas implicitly acknowledged that such camps were in existence in the country, despite official denial from the government. A 2007 CRS briefing titled Pakistan and Terrorism: A Summary said that Quetta and Peshawar were 바카라�safe havens바카라� for Al-Qaeda, Taliban and allied militants, and so were 바카라�the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border region바카라�. That the JeMis Peshawar-based has also been confirmed in 2011 by the United Nations report titled The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Similarly, The UN바카라�s report onHarakat-ul-Mujahidin (HuM) said in 2011 that the HuM is based in Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi and 바카라�trains its militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan바카라�.