In a bold and meticulously executed military operation, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the early hours of May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan. The strike was a direct response to the brutal Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which left dozens dead and shocked the nation. However, the operation’s impact has extended far beyond the retaliation- it appears to have also delivered long-delayed justice in the case of Daniel Pearl, an American journlalist who was murdered.
A key target: Bahawalpur
One of the nine key terror facilities neutralised during the operation was located in Bahawalpur, a city long known as the operational base of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). This Pakistan-based terror group, founded by Masood Azhar, has been linked to some of the most devastating attacks on Indian soil-from the 2001 Indian Parliament attack to the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.
Reports suggest that among those eliminated in the strike was Abdul Rauf Azhar, Masood Azhar’s brother and one of India’s most wanted terrorists.
The Daniel Pearl connection
Daniel Pearl, then South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Karachi in January 2002 while investigating links between Pakistani terror groups and the country’s intelligence agencies. A month later, a horrific video surfaced, showing his beheading. His murder became one of the earliest and most high-profile instances of brutality captured on video-shocking the world and highlighting the impunity with which terrorist networks operated in Pakistan.
Pearl’s abduction and murder were orchestrated by Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been released from Indian custody in 1999 after the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814.
Asra Nomani’s recollection
Indian-American journalist and author Asra Nomani, a close friend and colleague of Daniel Pearl, responded emotionally to reports of the Bahawalpur strike. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she shared that Pearl had visited Bahawalpur in late 2001 to investigate claims of militant safehouses operating openly in the city- at a time when then-President Pervez Musharraf had promised a crackdown on extremist groups.
“He literally knocked on their doors,” Nomani recalled, emphasising that Pearl wasn’t acting recklessly but rather conducting a calculated investigation. In a haunting email from that time, Pearl had written to her: “I’m anxious to go to Afghanistan, but I’m not anxious to die.” Within weeks, he was abducted.
Operation Sindoor
The name Operation Sindoor carries symbolic weight. In Indian culture, sindoor (vermilion) is worn by married women as a mark of life and love. The Pahalgam attack that triggered the operation had targeted husbands, men of now grieving wives, some even newly married.
But the operation has done more than avenge a single act of violence. By striking at the heart of terror sanctuaries that have festered for decades, it has sent a clear message: those responsible for acts of terror-not just in India but against the world- will no longer operate with impunity.
For Daniel Pearl’s family, including his father Dr. Judea Pearl, this moment offers a form of closure.
