Mosque, where Pakistani terrorist was killed, was in Islamabad control: Officials

A mosque in Sialkot, where a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander linked to the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack in Indian Punjab was killed, was taken over by the local administration in 2019, betraying close links between the terrorists and Pakistan’s government.

On Wednesday, Shahid Latif and his brother Haris Hashim were killed in the mosque when unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets and escaped. The local police chief told media that Shahid Latif “Sahib” was facing threats to life, and his murder seemed like a targeted killing.

It wasn’t the first time the mosque-cum-seminary – Masjid Al-Noor in Mundeyki Goraya village -- had come under scrutiny.

In January 2016, days after the Pathankot attack which left seven Indian security personnel dead, the administration in Pakistan's Punjab sealed the mosque complex following a raid by the counter-terrorism wing that claimed that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was running it.

Three years later, in a well-publicised move, the Punjab government took over the administrative control of the mosque. It also claimed that it had sealed a seminary adjacent to the mosque as both establishments were with the JeM, led by Maulana Masood Azhar. Local officials also insisted that the seminary was involved in subversive activities.

As expected, nothing did happen really and it remained an eye-wash.

Mastermind of Pathankot attack

Indian counter-terror officials say Latif was the actual administrator of the complex and that it was still under the control of JeM.

“Latif’s killing in the supposedly sealed and now under the so-called control of the local administration mosque shows how Pakistan has deceived the world and continues to patronage terrorists,” an officer said.

Pakistan, another Indian official said, was under obligation to arrest and try Latif for the Pathankot attack case. “In reality, Latif used to roam free with armed guards, running his activities under the very eyes of the ISI,” the country’s main intelligence agency, said the intelligence source.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had laid bare the role of Latif in the attack on the Pathankot airbase.

A witness told the NIA it was Latif who first discussed the plan to attack the Pathankot base in April or May 2014. The witness, who was at a meeting held in a Dera in Sialkot, reportedly said Latif showed the location of the airbase on a Google map and said it was easy to attack it due to the forests surrounding the base.

Latif, who was listed as accused number 3 in the case, was also involved in the planning and execution of the attack. He coordinated the attack from Pakistan, said a NIA chargesheet.

Pakistani hand clear

The suicide attackers were in touch with their handlers, one of them being JeM commander Kashif Jan, with the help of a Pakistani mobile no 92 34530 30479, during the attack.

Kashif Jan was user of IMO, a web-based chat and video messaging service provider. In his contact list were two other numbers – 92 31380 14038 and 92 32253 47280. These numbers belonged to Latif.

Service provider IMO verified that email ID associated with the account was shahid.latif77@gmail.com and the Internet Protocol addresses used by Latif to access the IMO service were in Pakistan.

There were 45 other phone numbers in the contact list of Jan and Latif that were common, showing their strong links.

More digging led to Latif’s old record in Jammu and Kashmir where he was arrested in 1993 on charges of terrorist activities and spent 16 years in Indian jails. He was deported to Pakistan in 2010.

Following the Pathankot attack, immense diplomatic pressure was brought on Pakistan by India to act against the perpetrators of the attack roaming free on its soil.

Subsequently, an FIR under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act were registered.

Pakistani just paid lip-service

A joint investigation of team or JIT visited India in March and went to the Pathankot airbase too. The JIT met NIA officials where all the evidence against the terrorists was shared. JIT members listened to the recording of the conversations of the attackers and their handlers.

“The JIT, during the team’s stay in India between March 27 and May 1, examined witnesses and were provided documents. They also met the NIA chief investigation officer and the supervisory officers of the case," the NIA chargesheet said, providing details of the visit of JIT.

The NIA sought DNA samples of the attackers' family members and details regarding Masood Azhar's questioning. The NIA wanted to send a team to Pakistan but this never happened.

India was never told who all were questioned or arrested or charged with in the case.

Given Latif’s status as a prime and well-ensconced figure in the Sialkot JeM complex, it is not difficult to imagine that Pakistan only paid lip service to take action against him and his associates before he was killed in the same complex, say counter-terror officials.