Who was Shahid Latif, the mastermind of the 2016 Pathankot attack, killed in Pakistan?

Unknown gunmen in Pakistan’s Sialkot have shot dead Shahid Latif, who is believed to be the mastermind of the Pathankot attack. Latif was killed inside a mosque, according to police, who are still looking for the attackers. Police have opened an investigation into the incident as the gunman fled the area on a motorbike, as per NDTV. Local newspapers reported that he was shot at point-blank range by shooters who were familiar with the topography of the area, reported The Times of India. This shows that local, homegrown terrorists were responsible for the murder, the report said. In Sialkot’s Noot Masjid, Latif had been employed as a Maulvi. He was a well-known terrorist on India’s list of wanted terrorists under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and was associated with the banned terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). He was a key conspirator of the Pathankot terror attack in 2016, which resulted in the deaths of seven security personnel.

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Morning footage from #Sialkot where JeM commander Shahid Latif and operative Hasim were slain by unidentified assailants

As soon as the incident was reported, Pakistani security forces and ambulance rushed to the spot pic.twitter.com/rqMNqCCqtO

— OsintTV 📺 (@OsintTV) October 11, 2023

About Shahid Latif Shahid Latif, 53, lived in the Daska Tehsil of the Sialkot District in Pakistan’s Northern Punjab, according to information from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Latif was known as the leader of the JeM terrorist group’s launch operation. He planned the attack on the airbase with four JeM militants, according to India Today, and deployed them to Pathankot to carry it out. He was originally detained in Jammu in November 1994 for his involvement in an attack on the Hazrat Bal shrine in Srinagar and for transporting narcotics to support his criminal activities. The Hindu quoted a senior NIA official as saying, “He was arrested and put in the Jammu jail during the course of the trial. After he was convicted by a court in 1996, he was shifted to a prison in Varanasi. The militancy was at its peak in the valley then and the agencies thought it better to shift him to Varanasi prison.” A Prevention of Terrorism Court in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, then convicted him and sentenced him to 16 years of rigorous jail. His involvement in terrorist operations resulted in a fine of Rs 40,000, according to The Quint. As part of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government’s efforts to mend relations with Pakistan, he was later released from prison in 2010 along with 24 other terrorists who had crossed the Wagah Border. Latif’s release was reportedly sought for by the same Jaish terrorists who had taken over Indian Airlines flight IC-814 and freed their leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, along with two others in return for 154 passengers in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1999. Latif and 31 other people on Jaish’s “wish list” were not, however, granted parole by the Vajpayee administration at the time, as per TOI. [caption id=“attachment_13234422” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Mohammad Masood Azhar. PTI[/caption] He joined terrorist modules and continued his anti-Indian activities after returning to Pakistan, said the NIA. He organised the four terrorists from Pakistan’s movement and offered logistical support. In January 2016, an attack on the Pathankot Air Base was carried out by these terrorists. He was also charged with hijacking an Indian Airlines plane (flight 814), according to India Today, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1999. The Indian government designated Shahid Latif as a terrorist after the NIA reported in their investigation that Latif had returned to the Jihadi workshop in Pakistan after being freed in 2010. Pathankot attack Pathankot Air Force Station was assaulted on 2 January 2016, by a highly armed group. Five attackers and six security personnel were killed during the roughly 17-hour-long fire battle between the security forces and the assailants. Following their hospitalisation for their wounds, three more soldiers passed away, as per Business Today. An explosion caused by an IED the following day claimed the life of another member of the security forces. On 4 January, a fifth attacker was killed during the Pathankot operation. According to officials, Latif was the one who placed the Pathankot terrorists in an SUV close to the Bamiyal border in Punjab and provided them with phone instructions to get to the airbase more than 100 kilometres away. India-Pakistan ties broke broken as a result of the JeM attack on Pathankot, which is still mostly unresolved. Attacks on terrorists in Pakistan Latif’s death is the latest one in a slew of attacks in Pakistan on terrorists. In Karachi, Ziaur-Rehman of Lashkar and Mufti Qaisar Farooq were both assassinated last month, according to NDTV. Bashir Ahmad Peer, a key Hizbul commander, died in Rawalpindi in February. Other terrorist leaders have also been killed in Pakistan over the past 18 months. With inputs from agencies