Pathankot Airbase attack mastermind Shahid Latif assassinated in Pakistan

Pathankot airbase attack mastermind Shahid Latif has been shot dead in a mosque in Sialkot, Pakistan. According to media reports, three unknown men fired at 53-year-old Latif and his brother, Haris Hashim, in the early hours of Wednesday, when they were coming out after prayers outside the Noor Madina Mosque in Daska town. Hashim was injured while Latif died on the spot. Shahid Latif was a key member of the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

 Pathankot Airbase Terrorist Attack

On January 2, 2016, Jaish terrorists attacked the airbase in Pathankot, resulting in the martyrdom of seven soldiers. The encounter lasted 36 hours, and the combing process lasted three days. Armed terrorists dressed in Indian Army uniforms carried it out. All of them had crossed to India via the Ravi River. After crossing into Indian territory, the terrorists hijacked several vehicles and proceeded to the Pathankot airbase. The terrorists who entered the airbase attacked on January 2. By the next evening, NSG soldiers had killed four terrorists. The remaining two terrorists kept firing frequently. NSG informed us about ending the operation on January 5.

Manohar Parrikar, who was the defence minister at the time of the attack, himself reached the airbase and announced the completion of the operation. Throughout the operation, 300 NSG commandos were deployed. Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ajit Doval also reached the airbase. Four attackers were killed, and three soldiers were martyred in the firing. The following day, four more Indian soldiers lost their lives in an IED blast.

Latif had sent the four Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists to Pathankot. Latif is also accused of being among the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines plane in 1999. It is believed that Masood Azhar brainwashed him, who was also lodged in that jail till he was set free in 1989 in exchange for the passengers of IC-814, an Indian Airlines plane that was hijacked by terrorists and taken to Kandahar, a city of Afghanistan.

A NIA Designated Terrorist

Latif alias Bilal alias Noor Al-Din, a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), was the Sialkot-based launching commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and was involved in the preparation, instruction, and execution of terror attacks in India. He was arrested in India in November 1994 and stood trial. Latif, a resident of Aminabad in Punjab’s Gujranwala of Pakistan, was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the agency handling the Pathankot case. In 2010, he was deported to Pakistan via the Wagah-Attari Border of Punjab after serving his sentence in India. 

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