Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 18: Contrary to the Pakistan government’s claims that none of the wanted terrorists lived in that country and those did were all in jail, India has definite information and evidence that at least seven of the world’s most wanted terrorists are still not only living in Pakistan, they also roam freely plotting terror attacks and are being protected by the Pakistani army and the deep state.
The seven most wanted terrorists – men with millions of dollars in bounties on their heads and who have orchestrated horrific attacks that claimed the lives of thousands, in India and abroad – are not hiding in rundown motels or ‘roughing it out’ in remote jungle camps.
Instead, they live as free men in Pakistan, backed and protected by the Pak Army and deep state, and operate with impunity, plotting terror attacks on India and Indians, recruiting and radicalising young men and women to perpetrate their violence, and living a luxurious life underlining Pakistan government’s inaction to rein in the terrorists despite a mountain of evidence.
According to official sources, Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the terrorist group that he established in the early 1990s as the military wing of the Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, a Pak-based Islamic fundamentalist missionary group, lives comfortably in Lahore under armed guard. Pak minister Bilawal Bhutto last month claimed Hafiz Saeed is under ‘house arrest’.
According to the United States’ Office of the Director of Naval Intelligence, the LeT was responsible for “numerous attacks against Indian troops and civilian targets across the country. The list of Lashkar assaults on India is long and bloody, and includes the bombing of commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 and the 26/11 attacks on the city. Over 360 people died in those two attacks alone. Lashkar terrorists also attacked the Red Fort in Delhi in 2000.
The man behind all these terror strikes has been designated a terrorist by the US and the United Nations and has a $10 million bounty on his head. The Lashkar HQ in Muridke was destroyed by India during Operation Sindoor.
Masood Azhar, the boss of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group that is also based out of Pakistan and protected by the Pak Army and deep state. The mastermind of the horrific Pulwama and Uri terror attacks – which killed 59 soldiers and injured dozens more – Azhar was labelled a ‘global terrorist’ by the United Nations in 2019.
Officially for the Pakistani government, he is ‘untraceable.’ In November he gave a speech at an Islamic seminary in Pak’s Punjab province and vowed more terror strikes on India. The Indian government demanded his immediate arrest but Pak dithered again, claiming it had, and still doesn’t have, information on his whereabouts. Earlier this month Mr Bhutto claimed Azhar might be in Afghanistan.
Intel, however, indicates Azhar continues to operate from Bahawalpur in Pak, which was also one of the terror camps disabled by missile strikes during Op Sindoor. Perhaps the ultimate sign of the protection offered to the LeT and JeM bosses are reports the Pak government has begun rebuilding launchpads and terror camps that were destroyed.
Zakir Rehman Lakhvi, a fundamentalist Islamic preacher and a senior figure in the LeT, is reported to be the terror group’s military chief and was the architect behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack. He was “jailed” by Pak, albeit very briefly, before being released on bail. This was despite India providing evidence of his role in the Mumbai attack.
Back in 2020, when Pak was on the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force, a global anti-terror financing watchdog, Lakhvi did face significant financial sanctions from Islamabad. But since then he has been as free as any of the other terrorists on this list, with addresses in Punjab province and even in Islamabad on the record. He is believed to have the protection of the Pak Army and even China; Beijing blocked a UN bid to place him on a key list of terrorists.
Syed Salahuddin, the chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist group and who has vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into “a graveyard for Indian forces,” and designated a terrorist by the US’ Department of State and India’s National Investigation Agency, still leads anti-India rallies in Pak-occupied Kashmir and calling for jihad against India.
Dawood Ibrahim, one of the world’s most wanted fugitives and the head of the infamous D-Company crime syndicate, is wanted on charges of murder and murder-for-hire, extortion, drug trafficking, and terrorism. He was labelled a ‘global terrorist’ by India and the US in 2003 for his role in the bombings in Mumbai a decade earlier, and was even on the ‘most wanted’ list of the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The $25 million bounty on his head alone underlines his nefarious status. He has been tracked to Karachi, where he is untouched, of course, under the security of the Pak government, its intel wing, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the country’s armed forces.
Both Iqbal Bhatkal, a bomber who founded the Indian Mujahideen, and his brother Riyaz Bhatkal, the co-founder of the group and acts as its financier, live in Karachi and run sleeper cells in India. Multiple terror groups and terrorists use Pakistan as a launchpad to attack Indian territory, a state of affairs that continues despite India raising this at the highest levels in the international community, These include providing a growing mountain of material highlighting Pakistan’s roles in terror attacks but Islamabad does not even blush.