Muridke

Population

According to 2023 census, Muridke had a population of 254,291. The city's population increased nearly ninefold between 1972 and 2017, from 18,507 to 166,652. Between 1998 and 2017, average annual growth was 2.1%, slightly lower than the national average of 2.4%.^[8][9]

Markaz-e-Taiba

Muridke is known for being home to the Markaz-e-Taiba, the headquarters of Markaz Dawa wal Irshad (MDI) or Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD),^[a] the parent organisation of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), located in the suburb of Nangal Sahdan.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} The Markaz is a large 200-acre complex that has a range of infrastructure established by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in 1990.^[21][20][22] Osama bin Laden, the former leader of Al-Qaeda, is believed to have contributed approximately PKR 10 million (roughly USD 100,000 at the time) towards the development of the complex.^[23] The complex includes the Umm al-Qura Mosque, a madrasa, a religious preaching centre, residential quarters, a school, a hospital, a market, a garment factory, an iron factory, a woodwork factory, a stable, a swimming pool, a fishfarm, agricultural tracts and various administrative buildings.^{[24][21][25][26][27]} While it presents itself as a religious and educational institution, multiple international intelligence assessments and security reports have identified it as a hub for indoctrination, militant training and terrorist recruitment.^[20] In 2009, following the Mumbai attacks, the Punjab government took over the complex, and JuD continued to operate from there.^[28] The federal and provincial governments in Pakistan continued to allocate funds to the organisation.^[21]

The complex was targeted in an airstrike conducted by the Indian Air Force as part of Operation Sindoor on the night between on 7 May 2025.^[29][30][31] The Government of Pakistan has said that the complex is a civilian facility run by the Government. The Diplomat magazine said that Amir Hamza, a co-founder of LeT, gave a Friday sermon at the Markaz in March, and a leader of Pakistan Markazi Muslim League, an affiliate of JuD/LeT, was seen telling a gathering just a few weeks earlier that the "jihad" would continue.^[14] Several high-profile attackers, including Ajmal Kasab and David Headley underwent training at these facilities.^[32]