HUGE DEVELOPMENT: Spooked Pakistan takes control of Jaish-e-Mohammed's headquarters, says it is providing security and protection. Read statement here

In a significant development, the government of Pakistan's Punjab province has taken control of the Jaish-e-Mohammed's campuses in Bhawalpur, as per a statement issued by the Imran Khan government's ministry of interior.

The Government of Pakistan's official handle on Twitter has posted:

The locations are the headquarters of the Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammed which claimed responsibility for the heinous attack on CRPF personnel in J&K's Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Jawans were martyred.

The Pak government has also added that the decision regarding doing so was taken at the National Security Committee meeting chaired by Pak PM Imran Khan on Thursday.

A longer statement has also been issued which reveals that the action by the Pakistan government is hardly a crackdown, rather, it's to provide security and protection to the campus:

Pak Interior Ministry Statement

Islamabad: February 22, 2019

A Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior has said that the government of Punjab has taken over the control of a campus comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah in Bahawalpur, reportedly the Headquarters of Jaesh-e-Mohammad and appointed an administrator to manage its affairs. The Spokesman said that the action was taken in line with the decision of the National Security Committee meeting held yesterday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The Spokesman further added that the campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and currently 600 students were studying in it. The Punjab police is providing security and protection to the campus, he added.

The Pakistan government's action comes on a day that India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in an exclusive interview to Republic Media Network that any and all options were on the table to avenge the Pulwama terror attack, that the time for talks with Pakistan was over, and that the security forces had been given a free hand to deal with the perpetrators of the terrorist strike.

Furthermore, as a result of India's diplomatic outreach, countries from around the world have come together to condemn the Pulwama terror attack, with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issuing a strong statement condemning the attack, naming the Jaish-e-Mohammed specifically, and asking all member nations to cooperate with India in bringing the attackers to task. This statement came despite resistance from China, Pakistan's 'all-weather friend' which has consistently blocked India's efforts to have Masood Azhar declared a proscribed terrorist.

Pakistan's latest move - to essentially provide security to the Jaish-e-Mohammed's campus - is the latest to betray its panic in the face of potential reprisal by India. Imran Khan had parroted the ISI's script in his detailed statement in which far from condemning the attack he sought to rake up the Kashmir issue and issue warnings of retaliation. It is also eerily similar to what was witnessed earlier this decade as 9/11 mastermind and Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin-Laden was killed in an operation by US forces on Pakistani soil. Bin-Laden had been hiding for years in a large compound in Pakistan's Abbottabad within a stones-throw away from a massive Pakistan military facility. Additionally, Mumbai bombings plotter and D-company gangster Dawood Ibrahim is also well known to be a protectee of the Pakistan deep state.