NEW DELHI: India has suffered terrorism for a few decades now, leaving thousands dead and as many injured. Cross border terrorism specially from Pakistan via Kashmir or Punjab has been a major cause of concern as India speaks about countering terrorism across all international forums.
Its only lately that India has been accused of killing terrorists who are based in third countries. Well, as of nothing has been proved against Indian agencies, but accusations have been rife since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first spoke about the involvement of Indian agencies in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Colombia in June last year.
Trudeau made this accusation in Parliament and also expelled an Indian diplomat. India followed suit by not just expelling a Canadian diplomat but by asking nearly 40 diplomats to leave the country and suspending visa services. A few months later, in November, the US indicted an Indian, Nikhil Gupta, for planning to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US. Gupta is in jail in Prague and US is trying to extradite him. There have been reports of some wanted terrorists who have been killed in Pakistan too.
Before sharing basics of those terrorists known to have died, let us see how many terrorists have been gunned in India. According to South Asia Terrorism Portal, the number of terrorists killed in India has reduced drastically from nearly 2260 in the year 2000 to 230 in 2023 and only six since the beginning of 2024.
Here are some of the listed terrorists in India who have been killed in other countries.
Shahid Latif, a member of the proscribed terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), was the key conspirator behind the 2016 attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, that killed 7. He was shot dead by unknown assailants in a mosque in Pakistan's Sialkot in October 2023. Pakistan has alleged of Indian agencies involvement.
Another terrorist killed in September, 2023, in Pakistan occupied Kashmir was Riyaz Ahmed alias Abu Qasim, who was a top commander of terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was one of the main conspirators of the January 2023 Dhangri terror attack. Seven people were killed and 14 others were injured when terrorists struck Dhangri village in Rajouri on January 1. In September, Riyaz Ahmad, a key accused in the terror case was shot dead inside Al Qudus mosque in Rawalkot.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was declared as a designated terrorist by India in 2020, was shot dead outside a gurdwara by two unidentified assailants in June in Canada’s Surrey. According to security agencies, Nijjar was actively involved in recruiting and training people for the banned terrorist outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). He was also a part of the separatist outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).
Bashir Ahmad Peer was a commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terror outfit and was responsible for recruitment and infiltration of armed terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. He was killed by unknown gunmen outside a shop in Rawalpindi in March 2023.
Syed Khalid Raza, was killed in Karachi in February 2023. He belonged to Al-Badr group.
One of the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814, Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, was shot dead by bike-borne assailants in Pakistan’s Karachi in March 2022. Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim was among the five hijackers of IC 814, which was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan on December 24, 1999.
Another killing was of a designated terrorist and Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Lahore in May 2023. Paramjit Singh Panjwar was involved in reviving the Sikh insurgency. He was wanted for cases of murder, kidnapping, and drug and weapons smuggling.
Laal Mohammad (55) alias Mohammad Darji, an agent of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was shot dead outside his hideout in Nepal’s Kathmandu on September 2023. As per intel agencies, Laal Mohammad was the biggest supplier of ISI's counterfeit notes in India.
In October, 2023, Mufti Qaiser Farooq, a former member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and a close associate of Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks was also killed in Pakistan.
Similarly, one more terrorist involved in anti-India activities Dawood Malik, considered a close aide of wanted terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar was killed on Pakistan soil by unknown gunmen in October, 2023.
According to reports, Malik was shot dead by unknown assailants in Pakistan's North Waziristan. Malik was the founder of Lashkar-e-Jabbar and also a close aide of one of India's most wanted terrorist Azhar. According to reports Malik was killed after masked gunmen opened fire in Mirali area of North Waziristan in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, another Khalistani terrorist Avtar Singh Khanda died in the UK in June 2023.
Meanwhile, there are a few who escaped the attacks on them. These include Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed managed to escape a bomb blast near his home in Lahore June, 2021. Among those wounded in the powerful blast were some police officers manning a checkpoint next to the house of Hafiz Saeed. Saeed was not at his home at the time of the blast.
Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha Saeed also escapted an attempt on his life. In 2019, a blast occurred near the site where Talha Saeed was to attend a religious conference as chief guest. However, Hafeez Saeed's deputy and Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Abdul Salam Bhuttavi was killed on January 12th 2024.
Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based designated terror group, is the mastermind of multiple terror attacks against India, including the Parliament attack, Uri, Pathankot and Pulwama attacks. Azhar found refuge in a madrasa in Peshawar after Indian warplanes struck Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps in Balakot in February 2019.
However, just two months later, an explosion shook the very ground where Masood Azhar had taken shelter, narrowly escaping with his life. Since then, the terror mastermind has remained invisible to the public eye.