Who is eliminating India's 'most-wanted' in Pakistan? Mystery surrounds over a dozen terrorist killings
Pakistan over the past two years. The Pakistani government and the banned militant organizations associated with it have remained silent about these killings.
The militants who were eliminated were affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM), the Khalistan movement, or Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM).
In the first two weeks of November, three senior Let/JeM terrorists, including a close aide of Maulana Masood Azhar and the chief recruiter of LeT, were shot dead. This series of assassinations began after a failed attempt on the life of LeT founder and mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed, in Lahore in 2021.
The killings followed a similar pattern, where unknown individuals on motorcycles targeted militants accused of terrorism in India.
Pakistani officials involved in the investigations have attributed these killings to the intelligence agency of a hostile country. According to an official familiar with the probes, a hostile spy agency has established a network of local assassins, some of whom are disgruntled former law enforcement personnel, to carry out these targeted killings.
The official alleged that India controls this network through operatives stationed in a Gulf state, possibly referring to the UAE.
Both Pakistani authorities and the media have chosen to remain silent about these incidents. After a press conference in 2021 by the then Pakistan Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah, following a bombing near Hafiz Saeed's residence in Lahore, Islamabad has downplayed the mysterious assassinations of militants associated with LeT, JeM, HuM, and the Khalistan separatist movement.
