The mastermind of the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot has been killed in Sialkot, Pakistan. Latif was on the list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case.
Shahid Latif was a senior member of a terrorist organization, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). After the 2016 Pathankot Attack Latif was in hibernation and now 2 unknown gunmen shot him dead in Pakistan.
Is RAW Behind Shahid Latif’s Killing?
The Pakistan Police confirmed that the person who was killed was Shahid Latif, mastermind of the Pathankot Attack in 2016. As per available information, Latif was killed inside a mosque.
In Pakistan Latif had been working as a Maulvi in Sialkot’s Noot Masjid. A senior police officer, Hassan Iqbal, said that they have launched an investigation to find and catch the attackers but the attackers are still unidentified.
The gunmen who killed Latif fled the scene on a motorcycle and cops have launched a probe into the killing. Now a lot of people are connecting the dots and are assuming that this attack was done by RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), the foreign intelligence agency of India.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened; earlier, most wanted terrorists in India had died suspiciously, and till now there’s no trace of who killed them. A few months ago, Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was also shot to death by two unidentified men.
In the past 18 months, several terrorists have been eliminated and Latif’s killing is the latest in the series. Last month Mufti Qaisar Farooq and Ziaur-Rehman of terrorist organization Lashkar were killed in Karachi, Pakistan.
Leading Hizbul leader Bashir Ahmed Peer was assassinated in Rawalpindi in February. He had a reputation for helping the militants of the outlawed group with their infiltration efforts into Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the Kupwara area.
About Terrorist Shahid Latif
In 1994, Shahid Latif was detained in India on suspicion of terrorism. After that in 2010, he was transferred back to Pakistan over the Wagah border. Latif, a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed, was a Sialkot native who led the four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase.
Shahid Latif was among those whose release was sought by the terrorists when Indian Airlines flight IC814 was taken over by five armed men in 1999 and headed for Kandahar in Afghanistan. In exchange for the 189 passengers and crew members, the Indian government declined the demand and instead released Masood Azhar and two other inmates.