From Daniel Pearl to Operation Sindoor: The Bloody Trail That Leads to Bahawalpur

“I still have chills in my heart from when I first heard that town’s name in late January 2002.”

That town was Bahawalpur. 

The Legacy of Bahawalpur

I still have chills in my heart from when I first heard that town’s name in late January 2002. For the 23 years since, I have reported on how Pakistani intelligence and military leaders have used that city — Bahawalpur — in the southern province of Punjab as a base for their homegrown domestic terrorists.

In that city, Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies have long harbored the very groups that have waged terror against India. It wasn’t just a remote town; it was a well-known hub, shrouded in the secrecy of a military state, where the machinery of terrorism was allowed to operate with impunity. From Bahawalpur, terrorists were trained and dispatched, crossing borders with impunity to wreak havoc on innocent lives in India, and beyond.

A City, A Journalist, and a Warning Ignored

A Journalist’s Last Visit

When I heard India bombed training camps in Pakistan this week in Operation Sindoor, in response to a Pakistani terrorist rampage in India’s Kashmir state, I had one city’s name on my lips: Bahawalpur.

Why do I know? My friend, WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl, went to Bahawalpur in December 2001 with a notebook and a pen. Gen. Pervez Musharraf had just promised he was shutting down Pakistan’s militant groups after a strike by Pakistan’s terrorists against the Indian Parliament, and Danny reported on the militant offices in Bahawalpur.

He literally knocked on their doors.

Danny’s visit wasn’t reckless — it was a calculated, low-risk reporting trip. At the time, no journalist had been targeted for kidnapping in Pakistan. I vividly remember Danny’s email before his departure: “I’m anxious to go to Afghanistan, but I’m not anxious to die.”

What did Danny learn? The militant training camps in Bahawalpur were open for business. It was clear then that the promises to shut down these groups were hollow, and the military’s complicity was evident.

From Pearl’s Killing to India’s Counterstrike

On January 23, 2002, Danny left a home I had rented in Karachi, Pakistan, for an interview. His fixer, Asif Farooqi, had arranged an interview for him through a man named “Arif.” Danny didn’t know it, but Arif was the PR man for a militant group, Harkutul Mujahideen. What was Arif’s hometown? Bahawalpur.

The police launched a manhunt to find Arif, but Arif’s family faked a funeral to divert attention. Police eventually found him trying to board a bus in Muzaffarabad, near the Pakistan-Kashmir border. And here we are, two decades later — the same city of Bahawalpur, the same hub of terrorism, now bombed by Indian jets as part of Operation Sindoor.

This brings us to the man who, directly or indirectly, played a role in the death of Daniel Pearl: Omar Sheikh. A British-Pakistani dropout from the London School of Economics, radicalized in London mosques, Omar went to Pakistan to train in these very militant camps. In the 1990s, he was involved in kidnapping tourists in India, and he was later caught and jailed. But on December 31, 1999, Omar was released in a hostage trade for Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijackers. He was set free, along with Masood Azhar, a notorious Pakistani terrorist leader.

When they returned to Pakistan, did the authorities detain them? No. They were embraced by Pakistan’s military and intelligence as weapons to use against India.

The Message Being Returned

Now, India has struck these terror camps in Bahawalpur and Muzaffarabad, targeting the very epicenters where these domestic terrorists have been nurtured. But here’s the twist: It’s not just a military operation. It’s a deeply personal message — one that speaks volumes to those who remember the stories left unfinished, like that of Daniel Pearl.

For the Pakistani military, these attacks should have come much earlier. They should have dismantled these bases long ago, for the safety of their own citizens. But the obsession with Kashmir and the deep-state mentality allowed terrorism to thrive. Now, India is doing what Pakistan failed to do — addressing these camps head-on. It may be painful. It may be long overdue. But justice is catching up.

A National Reckoning Awaits

It’s time for Pakistan’s military establishment to confront a truth it has long evaded: you cannot cultivate snakes in your backyard and expect them to bite only your neighbors.

The people of Pakistan deserve better than a security doctrine built on vengeance and proxy war. They deserve peace, stability, and a government that does not gamble their futures for strategic illusions.

What happened in Bahawalpur this week was not merely a counterstrike. It was a reminder — that inaction has consequences, that safe havens will no longer be safe, and that international patience has its limits.

And for those who remember the stories left unfinished — like that of Daniel Pearl — this week’s events were not just geopolitical. They were personal. It was a message.

Credit: This article is inspired by a tweet thread by Asra Q. Nomani — author, journalist, and former Wall Street Journal reporter, globally recognized for her insightful commentary and thought-provoking analysis across platforms including MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, The Washington Post, and BBC.

The Original Tweet form Asra Q. Nomani

“Bahawalpur.”

I still have chills in my heart from when I first heard that town’s name in late January 2002. For the 23 years since, I have reported on how Pakistani intelligence and military leaders have used that city — Bahawalpur — in the southern province of Punjab as a base… pic.twitter.com/nFF6geUTp7

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) May 8, 2025