Ilyas Kashmiri - the epitome of malice

The militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) has confirmed that its leader and commander of al Qaeda’s operational wing 313 Brigade, Ilyas Kashmiri was killed in a drone strike on South Waziristan on the night of June 3.

If Kashmiri is indeed dead, al Qaeda and the militant groups linked to the Kashmir jihad that are now operating under its umbrella have been dealt a severe blow. But it would be unwise to assume on the basis of a shady HuJI statement that Kashmiri has really died. Conclusive evidence is necessary. There were similar reports about Kashmiri dying in a Predator attack in North Waziristan around a year back, but it later turned out that he was alive.

So until there is hard proof that he is actually no more, it wouldn’t be a good idea to breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

After all, this was man who remained India’s tormentor-in-chief for many years and escaped their prison and also tried to have that gung-ho former president of ours, Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf assassinated, but was still lived to see the next day.

Once a member of the Special Services Group, a special operations military unit of the Pakistan Army, Kashmiri was the product of the vile and spiteful ideology that has been fermented in our country for decades. Hate is a double-edged sword and there is a price to be paid for using it as a weapon. The malice that had been ingrained in the psyche of people trained to become killing machines does not simply fade away with changing policies.

Kashmiri is suspected to be involved in several attacks in Pakistan and abroad.

He is a prime suspect in the PSN Mehran attack in Karachi on May 22 and also believed to be perpetrator of the suicide attack at Marriot hotel in Islamabad on September 20, 2008 in which more than 50 people were killed.

A US court had indicted Kashmiri and a former Pakistan Army major for conspiring with a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley to target Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Headley also had told interrogators that Kashmiri was also involved in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

There was a time when the chests our men in uniform swelled with pride over Kashmiri’s ‘feats’ across the border. But Mr Musharraf’s “u-turn” on the Kashmir policy did not go down well with HuJI leader. He was arrested by the Pakistani authorities in 2003 for trying to have the former president killed, but was released in 2004.

The fact that Kashmiri managed to get off the hook even after being arrested for plotting the murder of a president in uniform indicates that certain elements in the armed forces and the intelligence agencies that haven’t been able to ditch the anti-India mindset as well were supporting him even at that time.

After he was allowed go scot-free, Kashmiri went on to orchestrate the murders of a number of Pakistanis. Perhaps, this dreaded terrorist has finally met his fate and the world, particularly Pakistan, is a safer place now. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.