New Delhi, Jan 17 : The leaders of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been indulging in a major disinformation campaign aimed at boosting recruitment. Operation Sindoor dealt such a major blow to these outfits that they never anticipated that a revival campaign would be so hard to undertake.

Clearly, their argument about the importance of waging Jihad against India is not gaining any traction. The youth find them weak after the Indian armed forces hit them hard in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack. Hence, the only option left for these terror groups is to create stories to paint a picture that, in reality, is extremely strong and not affected by Operation Sindoor, an official added.

Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders have been speaking about international issues so that the youth are captivated into believing that Pakistan is a strong country, while India remains isolated. Hafiz Abdul Rauf of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, who is also the head of the outfit's charitable wing, has been speaking about the newfound ties with the United States.

He tells possible recruits that Pakistan will have the backing of the US against India. He even says that India is now cornered by the alliance that comprises US-Pakistan and Bangladesh. Recently, the Jaish-e-Mohammed too circulated audio clips supposedly of their chief Masood Azhar, in which it was claimed that 1,000 people had been recruited specifically to wage Jihad against India.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that this is a completely false claim. The reality is that the audio clip is fake. Secondly, scores of cadres have left these outfits post Operation Sindoor. Officials say that in recent times, terrorists have been boasting in public about the strong position that Pakistan finds itself in, especially when it comes to ties with the US and Bangladesh. It is clearly a desperate move to pull in cadres.

However, in this desperation, they fail to understand that the US cannot be a selling point to recruit. Many hate the Western powers due to their war with the Taliban and other Gulf nations. The US, in their minds, is a country that targets Muslims, and hence they do not want to have anything to do with the country.

Further, most of these persons who are tom-tomming about the US ties are the ones who have been designated as terrorists by the same country. Officials say that these talking points only indicate the level of desperation that has set in. In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, the fact is that over 200-300 terrorists have ditched their respective organisations, officials note.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that in the days to come, one can expect more such lies to be spread. For now, the narrative has not worked, and hence, more desperate attempts would be made in the days to come, the officials also say. Operation Sindoor is the main reason for this narrative to set in. The other one is the decision by the Lashkar-e-Taiba to join hands with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) to battle against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Nationalist Army (BLA).

This has also had a very negative impact on the recruitment process. Most youth who would have ideally joined these groups feel that they do not want to join an outfit that has to fight their own brothers in Pakistan. Further, the collapse of ties with the Taliban has also been a major factor in the recruitment slowing down, and the number of deserters has increased.

For many Pakistanis, the Taliban has been an all-weather ally. An official said that they are unable to comprehend that Pakistan is fighting the Taliban. Another official said that this is a complete mess by Field Marshal Asim Munir, whose strategy is failing on multiple counts. Due to him, Pakistan has lost allies, and the people have lost faith in the Pakistan army. This, in turn, has had an impact on terror groups as well, who are today relying on lies to further their agenda with the hope that the youth will join them, the official also added.

/IANS