In the year 2023, atleast 12 anti India elements have been eliminated so far in Pakistan. These killings have led to panic in the camps of terror master minds, who are known to be involved in plotting operations against India especially in Kashmir and are behind a number of civilian killings here. Several of the terror groups have been alerted by Pak intelligence agencies to take caution. There are also reports that Pakistan has beefed up security of some notorious terrorists like Hafeez Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim. Some terrorists are raising questions about Pakistan’s intelligence failure, even as they ask for protection from state agencies.
These killings have taken place across Pakistan and the security officials have not yet nabbed anyone responsible for those. India has been facing cross border terrorism for decades now and most of those behind terrorism related incidents and killings in India have been provided a safe haven in Pakistan. Several terror masterminds have been living there in total impunity. It is for the first time that these terrorists are being targeted inside their safe havens despite being provided security by Pak agencies. Though, mysteriously these targeted killings remain unresolved so far.
Notably, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Hanzla Adnan, who masterminded the attack on a Border Security Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur in 2015, was recently killed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan’s Karachi.
Hanzla Adnan was shot outside his house on the intervening nights of December 2 and 3.
Adnan Ahmed, a former councilor, belonged to the Milli Muslim League, the political front of LeT. He is believed to be the mastermind of the 2015 terror attack on the Border Security Force (BSF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur.
According to reports, unknown gunmen killed Ahmed outside his home on the intervening night of December 2 and December 3.
Notably, this is the 12th mysterious killing of anti-India elements in Pakistan this year alone.
While commenting on the recent killing of terrorists in Pakistan by ‘unknown gunmen’, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that those who are wanted by Indian authorities should come here and “face the legal system”.
The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said that he couldn’t comment on the death of wanted terrorists in Pakistan.
The incident comes after the death of Sajid Mir, one of the masterminds of the dastardly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. According to unconfirmed reports, he was allegedly poisoned in the Central Jail of Dera Ghazi Khan in Pakistan.
In the past two years, more than a dozen terrorists from New Delhi’s “most wanted list” have been mysteriously killed in Pakistan. The militants were associated with groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Jaish-e-Muhammed. The assassinations began after a failed attempt on the life of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed. Pakistani officials suspect the involvement of a hostile foreign intelligence agency
Pakistan has remained silent on the killings, possibly due to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force. Islamabad is reluctant to acknowledge the killing of these terrorists as it would expose its terror nexus and how many terror groups are living with impunity there.
In each case, unknown armed men riding motorcycles have been involved in the targeted killings of militants accused of terrorism in India.
Around 20 such killings have occurred in the last two years in Pakistan, of which 16 have occurred since February this year.
All the 16 who have been killed were functionaries of anti-India terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaishe-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen and all of them at one point or the other, had contributed by one way or the other to killing Indian citizens in India.
These terrorists have been killed across various parts of Pakistan – Karachi, Sialkot, Neelam valley (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rawalkot, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
None of the accused in these killings have been identified by the Pakistan police till now despite its intelligence agency, the ISI carrying out the investigations. The terror groups are now blaming Pakistan government for intelligence failure. Several terrorists have been protesting these killings, while Pakistan is reported to have beefed up security of the likes of terror masterminds like Hafiz Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim.
Reports from Pakistan point out that these killings have been a topic of discussion among the Taliban and other similar groups.
“We believe R&AW is doing this. And we are not surprised. We all know ISI has been carrying out such attacks in India and in AfPak region by using locals, so if they are getting the same treatment, then they deserve it,” one of the terror group members told the Sunday Guardian.
Some of the recent killings in Pakistan have been claimed by a little known organisation, Sindhudesh Liberation Army, a Sindhi militant organisation based in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It became publicly known in 2010 and it has taken credit for some of the recent killings.
Among the list of anti India elements that were killed, Mohammad Ismael of LeT was shot dead in PoK in February, 2018. Abdul Salam Bhuttavi of Lashkar was killed in May, 2021. While in 2022, Zahoor Mistry and Zafrullah Jamali, of Lashkar were killed in March in Karachi.
In February, 2023, Bashir Ahmed Peer, @intiyaz Alam belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen was murdered in Rawalpindi. Syed Khalid Raja of Al Badr, was shot dead in Karachi. Aijaz Ahmad Ahangar (worked closely with ISI’s operation in Kashmir) too was killed in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province.
Syed Noor Shalobar (worked for both Lashkar and Jaish) was murdered in March, 2023 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. Paramjit Panjwar of Khalistan Force was killed in May, 2023 in Johar town, Lahore.
Khalid Bashir of Lashkar was shot dead in May, 2023 in Lahore.
Dawood Malik, a close aide of Jaish’s Maulana Masood Azhar was killed this year in North Waziristan. Shahid Latif of Jaish was killed in Sialkot, Maulana Rehman and Mufti Qaiser of Lashkar were killed in Karachi. Mohd Riaz was killed in Rawalkot, PoK.
Other Laskar e Tayyaba terrorists killed in last two months include, Sardar Hussain Arain, Khwaja Shahid, Akram Ghazi of Lash, Raheem Ullah Tareeq and Adnan Ahmed aka Hanzla Ahmed.
