2016 Pathankot Attack Mastermind Shahid Latif Killed ‘Likely Over Land Dispute’: Pak Cop | Exclusive

Property dispute may have led to the killing of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Shahid Latif, the mastermind of the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot, in Sialkot on Wednesday, local police told News18 exclusively.

Three motorcycle-borne men fired indiscriminately at 53-year-old Latif and his brother, Haris Hashim, outside the Noor Madina mosque in Daska town in the early hours of Wednesday, when they were coming out after prayers. While Latif died on the spot, Hashim suffered injuries.

Speaking to News18, Hasan Iqbal, DPO, Sialkot, said, “It is a likely case of personal enmity. We are investigating it further. There was an ongoing land dispute in the family. His relatives have been caught.”

Refusing to call him a terrorist or Pathankot mastermind, Iqbal referred to him as a “common citizen”.

A DESIGNATED TERRORIST, WANTED BY NIA

Latif alias Bilal alias Noor Al Din, a designated terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), was the launching commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Sialkot and was involved in planning, facilitation and execution of terror attacks in India.

The officials said that Latif had entered Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1993 as a cadre of the banned Hakar-ul-Ansar terror group. However, he was arrested a year later and sent the Kol Balwal jail in Jammu.

It is believed that he was brainwashed further by Masood Azhar, 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.

After spending 16 years in Indian jail, he was deported through the Attari-Wagah border in 2010 and is believed to have gotten in touch with Azhar, who had by that time formed the JeM terror group.

“This is the biggest blow to JeM on Pakistan soil,” an official said.

Latif, a resident of Aminabad in Punjab’s Gujranwala, was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which was handling the Pathankot case. Seven IAF personnel were killed as four JeM terrorists sneaked into the Pathankot Air Force Station on January 2, 2016. The siege went on for three days.

With PTI Inputs