A close associate of Lashkar-e-Toiba\u2019s (LeT) Hafiz Saeed, Mufti Qaiser Farooq, has been killed by the unidentified gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Hafiz Saeed is considered to be the mastermind behind the 26\/11 attacks in India.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, another cleric Maulana Ziaur Rahman, with ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba was also killed after he was fatally shot by two motorcycle-riding assailants during his routine evening walk in Karachi.<\/p>\n
Sources said that Pakistani agencies are making significant efforts to portray both Zia ur Rehman and Mufti Qaiser as religious clerics with no connections to Hafiz Saeed and his LeT.<\/p>\n
Previously, another individual linked to the ISI, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who is the leader of the Khalistan Commando Force, was also killed.<\/p>\n
In February, Hizbul Mujahideen suffered a blow when its launch commander and a close associate of Syed Salahuddin, Bashir Peer, was killed in Rawalpindi by unknown assailants near the ISI headquarters and the military garrison.<\/p>\n
He was shot at close range and succumbed to his injuries on the spot.<\/p>\n
Following these recent killings, Pakistan’s ISI has relocated several of its “assets” to secure locations, causing unease within the country’s military-industrial complex.<\/p>\n
Approximately a dozen of these individuals have been moved to designated “safe houses” by the ISI.<\/p>\n
The need for caution in safeguarding these assets became even more apparent due to the earlier killings of two additional Lashkar operatives: Abu Qasim Kashmiri in Rawalkot and Qari Khurram Shehzad in Nazimabad in September.<\/p>\n
Rahman, a suspected terrorist associated with LeT, was reportedly killed on September 12, with local police discovering 11 cartridges, some of which were of 9mm caliber.<\/p>\n
He had been operating as an administrator at Jamia Abu Bakar, a seminary used as a front for his terrorist activities.<\/p>\n
The Pakistan Police labeled the murder as a ‘terrorist attack,’ suggesting the involvement of homegrown “militants.” Additionally, investigators are exploring the possibility of gang rivalry as one of the potential motives for the assassination. Rahman’s killing follows a series of attacks on religious preachers in Karachi, all linked to terror groups through the ISI, and involved in radicalising and mobilising youths towards India.<\/p>\n