Maulana Ziaur Rahman’s death at Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi, would have caught the attention of his family, friends, and those who believed in his religious sincerity. Numerous clerics work outside of religion in Pakistan, and some of them are often fired for a variety of reasons.
Except for a few factors, Pakistan’s military-industrial complex would not have been alarmed by Rahman’s murder by two motorcycle-riding unknown shooters who shot their victim repeatedly as he was on his customary evening stroll.
Since Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the head of the Khalistan Commando Force, was also a Lashkar asset, Ziaur Rahman’s murder nearly exactly mirrored that of Paramjit Singh Panjwar. In May, as Panjwar was on a morning stroll close to his home in Lahore, he was shot and murdered by unknown attackers. Panjwar was sought by India for terrorism.
According to individuals who have been following the events, the ISI, Pakistan’s secret agency and the mastermind behind the terror campaign against India, has placed about a dozen of its “assets” in “safe houses” because of the similarities between the two murders. The deaths of two additional Laskhar agents in September, Abu Qasim Kashmiri in Rawalkot and Qari Khurram Shehzad in Nazimabad, may have made the precaution even more essential, according to sources.
The murder of Rahman was reported on September 12. 11 cartridges, some of which were 9mm calibre, were discovered by the local police. He was running Jamia Abu Bakar, a seminary that served as a cover for his terrorist operations, according to reports.
The murder was referred to as a “terrorist attack” by Pakistani authorities in a news statement, implying the involvement of domestic “militants.” One of the potential causes of what the Pakistan Police have labeled a “targeted killing” is being investigated, along with gang rivalry.
Rahman’s murder comes after a string of murders in Karachi on religious speakers, all of whom were linked to terrorist organizations through the ISI and engaged in radicalizing youngsters and preparing them to attack India.
Khalid Raza, previously of Al-Badar Mujahideen, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, the same Karachi neighborhood where Rahman was to be assassinated later, is among those on what seems to be a growing list.
Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, a hijacker of Indian Airlines flight IC-814, was killed by gunfire on March 1 in Karachi. The Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist was shot twice in the head at close range by unidentified shooters.
Pakistan’s law enforcement authorities and ISI are alarmed by the recent deaths. They have been accusing India’s foreign intelligence agency without any proof because there is no suspect and they won’t accept that the killings may have been motivated by gang rivalry. This is despite the fact that their own research indicates that local criminals who were too familiar with the layout of the neighborhoods where their victims lived and groups of comrades who assisted them in successfully escaping and blending in with their communities were also involved.
