BJP Claims Rauf Azhar Killed in Operation Sindoor, FS Says ‘No Info to Share At This Point’

New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which leads the National Democratic Alliance government has in an X post on Thursday (May 8) claimed that “most wanted” Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar has been killed in Operation Sindoor – the India’s military strikes against ‘terrorist infrastructure’ in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri, who addressed a press conference just hours after the post, on the other hand, said that he has “no information at this point” on the issue.

The post from the official BJP X handle shows an image of Rauf Azhar with a caption in Hindi that states: “Jaish e Mohammed chief Rauf Azhar has been killed in Operation Sindoor”.

The image also states that Azhar was the mastermind of the hijacking of Indian Airlines IC 814 in Kandahar in 1999, the 2016 Pathankot terror attack and the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

It further adds that in Operation Sindoor, along with Rauf, an additional 14 members of JeM chief Masood Azhar’s family were killed.

At the press conference addressed by Misri along with Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian air force just about an hour and a half after the post went online, the foreign secretary in response to a specific question on Rauf and other terrorists targeted in the attack said that he does not have “information at this point in time”.

“I don't have information at this point in time to share with you on these issues, but as I said, I think there is so much information out there on television, in the news media, in social media that sometimes it looks like a long time has passed since this,” said Misri.

While Misri was also asked to confirm on record whether 100 terrorists had been killed in the strikes that were conducted in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, he said that details are still emerging and “information will come and will be shared in due time”.

“Please understand that slightly over 36 hours only have passed since this operation was undertaken. Let's have some patience. Information will come out and will be shared in due time,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, at the all-party meeting convened by the government, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh informed party leaders that about 100 terrorists and their accomplices were killed, The Wire has reported.

At the press briefing Misri, Qureshi and Singh addressed yesterday hours after Operation Sindoor, while details were provided about the nine targets – including camps belonging to the JeM and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba – and how they were the roots of other terror attacks in the past, no names of any particular individuals killed in the Indian strikes were mentioned.

In the first public remarks made by a Union minister following the strikes on Wednesday evening, the defence minister also did not mention any particular individuals.

Singh said that the strikes had targeted only those who “killed our innocents” and added that the armed forces had shown “great sensitivity by ensuring that no civilian or civilian population was affected”.