Jaish-e-Mohammad publishes al-Qalam' for first time after Pathankot attack

Mumbai: Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the terrorist outfit operating from Pakistan and suspected to be behind the Pathankot attack, has brazenly gone ahead and resumed publication of its online journal ‘al-Qalam’. This move has come just eight weeks after Pakistani cyber regulators cracked down on the JeM’s internet operations in connection with the attack.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Indian intelligence officials said that the resumption of Jaish’s online publication, includes a column by its commander Maulana Masood Azhar, held by Pakistan, which is the latest evidence that the organisation’s operations are continuing normally.

The release of the latest issue of the journal has come after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said that a Pakistani team, formed to probe the Pathankot airbase attack, will arrive in India on March 27 and ‘begin their work’ the next day.

Swaraj’s announcement came after she met Sartaj Aziz, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor, on the sidelines of the SAARC foreign ministers’ meeting in Pokhara, Nepal.

According to reports, the journal leads with a column by ‘Sa’adi’ — a pen-name used by Azhar, who Pakistan foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, claimed was in ‘protective custody’.

Azhar is believed to be living in an ISI-run safe house in Islamabad, though no charges have been filed against him.

The latest issue of the journal, for most parts, speaks off religion, good conduct and deeds and warnings to fellow Muslims against adopting a western lifestyle.

The journal however did not adopt the critical tone against India that was characteristic of the issues leading up to the Pathankot attacks.