Pressure on Pakistan to crack down on terror comes to naught as JeM mouthpiece al-Qalam puts out latest edition

In the wake of the 14 February attack on a CRPF convoy that killed over 40 CRPF jawans and was claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammed, there has been growing pressure — from India as well the US and a host of other countries — on Pakistan to crack down on its homegrown terror industry. [caption id=“attachment_6174921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of JeM chief Masood Azhar. AFP[/caption] On Wednesday, China — for the fourth time — put a ’technical hold’ on a resolution at the UN Security Council to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar a ‘global terrorist’ under the 1267 Sanctions Committee list. On its part, while Pakistan has made some of the right noises about terrorism — albeit as a concept rather than something emanating from its soil, there has been minimal actual action on the ground in terms of eradicating this phenomenon. While its much-publicised Operation Zarb-e-Azb between June 2014 and April 2016 was dismissed by most observers as no more than an eyewash, Pakistan has yet to do very much to address global concerns about terrorism and terror propaganda coming from within the country. A case in point, JeM continues to put out its in-house publication al-Qalam — that has repeatedly called for attacks on India — undeterred and unfettered. The latest issue of the terror outfit’s propaganda mouthpiece can be viewed below:

The Latest Edition of Al-Qalam by Firstpost on Scribd

Aside from being used as a platform from which for Azhar and other JeM functionaries to call for jihad against India and other States — Myanmar too bore the brunt of the JeM's ire in September 2017 — al-Qalam has been used by the JeM to send out updates on its latest meetings and discussions. As this article points out , “The 28 February issue of al-Qalam is peppered with references to meetings held across Pakistan, where young people are recruited to the group. In Karachi, the magazine records, there were ‘magnificent gathering at two locations, where hundreds of volunteers assembled to learn about the realities of jihad Mufti Khalilullah’.”