Masood Azhar claims no damage in Balakot strike, throws ‘fitness challenge’ at PM Modi

India’s most wanted and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, in a purported editorial of his terror outfit’s weekly paper Al-Qalam, has claimed that no damage or loss of life was incurred by the group in the Indian Air Force’s strike in Balakot. In a latest editorial written under his pen name Saadi, the Jaish chief also rejected the reports about his health. "Nothing like that. All are alive and all is well," he wrote in the weekly paper.  He also threw a fitness challenge at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him to compete in a shooting or archery competition to prove who is more fit – both mentally and physically.

Reacting to the reports about his health, the Jaish leader said that he had not been to a hospital in the last 17 years and his kidney and liver were working fine. “I am fully fit. My kidney and liver are perfectly fine,” he said adding that a Quran inspired diet helped him in the treatment of hypertension and diabetes.

Earlier there were reports in a section of media that the Jaish chief was admitted to the hospital and that his condition was critical. Some reports even claimed that he could be dead.

Although News Nation could not independently verify that the article is actually written by Azhar, but Al-Qalam is widely known as Jaish’s mouthpiece and Saadi as his pseudonym. Referring to the suicide bomber of Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed, Azhar said that the fire started by Kashmiris like Adil Ahmad Dar was not going to be doused anytime soon.

Comparing his and JeM's situation to that of Muslims during the time of Prophet Mohammed, Azhar termed his organisation’s terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir as “freedom movement”. Azhar's terrorist outfit JeM had claimed the reponsibilty of Pulwama attack. Following deadly the attack, India carried out an air strike on a JeM camp in Balakot inside Pakistani territory and claimed to have destroyed a madarasa and terrorist training school.