A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)-linked operative has publicly admitted that more than 30 operatives of the Pakistan-based terror outfit have been killed over the past three to four years, in what appears to be one of the group’s clearest admissions of its losses in recent years. The speech, delivered by Rizwan Hanif in a video believed to have been recorded in May but now circulating on social media, alleges that Indian intelligence agencies were behind the killings through what he described as an “unknown gunman model”.
Addressing supporters, Hanif claimed that LeT operatives had been targeted in several Pakistani cities, including Peshawar, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot.
“Over the past three to four years, more than 30 of our people have been killed by Indian intelligence agents,” Hanif said.
Hanif’s remarks amount to a rare public acknowledgement by a Lashkar-linked figure that the outfit has suffered repeated losses over the past several years. A number of terrorists linked to organisations have been killed by unidentified gunmen across Pakistan in recent years, prompting widespread speculation over who was behind the attacks. Pakistan has on multiple occasions accused India of carrying out targeted killings inside its territory, while New Delhi has rejected such allegations.
In his speech, Hanif claimed that operatives of the outfit had been unable to live “in peace and tranquillity” in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir because of the alleged campaign.
“Indian intelligence agencies have not allowed our people to live in peace and tranquillity in Kashmir. Through their agents, they have martyred our people,” he claimed.
HATE SPEECH DURING ADDRESS
During his speech, Hanif also made a series of inflammatory and derogatory remarks targeting followers of other religions while referring to the deaths of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. Claiming that operatives of the outfit were being targeted because of their faith, he alleged that their “only crime” was their religious belief.
He then made offensive remarks about Hindus and Jews, using derogatory language to contrast their religious practices with Islam. He also made hateful comments directed at followers of other faiths. Hanif concluded this part of his speech by asserting the supremacy of Allah while declaring that neither the United States nor Israel was supreme.
HOW LASHKAR-E-TAIBA WAS FORMED
Lashkar-e-Taiba was founded in Pakistan in the late 1980s by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zafar Iqbal and Abdullah Azzam as the militant wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an Islamist organisation established during the Soviet-Afghan War. Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the group’s focus shifted to Jammu and Kashmir.
India, US, the United Nations and several other countries have designated Lashkar-e-Taiba as a terrorist organisation. India and multiple Western governments have long alleged that the group has received support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
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