Maulana Shahid Latif belonged to Pakistan-administered Kashmir and for many years he was serving as the administrator of Masjid Noor Madina in Daska area.
According to information regarding Maulana Shahid Latif, he has left a widow and two children among the bereaved.
According to Majid Nizami, a journalist who monitors the affairs of Kashmir, 50-year-old Maulana Shahid Latif has spent a long time in an Indian prison.
He says that according to my information, he moved from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Indian-administered Kashmir in the early 90s. At that time, he was associated with the banned organization Harakat al-Mujahideen.
He said that Maulana Shahid Latif was active with Harakat Mujahideen in Indian-administered Kashmir for some time. According to Majid Nizami, this movement was in the group of Sajjad Afghani, a famous leader of Mujahideen.
Sajjad Afghani has been of legendary fame. He says that during this time Maulana Shahid was arrested there and he was kept in Banaras Jail in India. When the Kandahar plane hijacking incident took place in 1999, Maulana Shahid Latif’s name was included among the 40 people who were named for release at the beginning of the negotiations. However, he was never included in the frontline leadership. Rather, they were considered in the second level of leadership.
According to Majid Nizami, only five people could be released as a result of the subsequent negotiations. In which Maulana Shahid Latif was not included. According to Majid Nizami, Maulana Shahid came to Pakistan after being released from Indian prison in 2010, but after his release, he rarely lived in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. From that time till now he lived in Daska and became the administrator of Masjid Noor Medina.
A red warrant was also issued in the Pathankot incident.
According to Majid Nizami, his activities regarding Jaish-e-Mohammed or Harakat al-Mujahideen were not coming out for a long time.
However, a red warrant was issued in his name by Interpol in connection with the 2016 attack on Indian Air Force’s Pathankot Air Base in which nine militants and six Indian security forces personnel were killed. Regarding this attack which lasted for 17 hours, India claims that Maulana Shahid Latif was also involved in its planning.
According to Majid Nizami, India had claimed that it had identified a group of people planning the attack through phone calls, possibly including Maulana Latif. After which a few formal cases were registered against him in India.
He said that Maulana Shahid Latif was among those people who were still wanted by India. India had also issued their red notice with the help of Interpol. Majid Nizami, while commenting on the incident of his murder, said that it seems to be a target killing.
Faizullah Khan, a journalist reporting on the conflict, also agrees with Majid Nizami’s opinion in this regard. Faizullah Khan said that the killing of Maulana Latif may be similar to the killing of another Kashmiri leader, Abu Qasim, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir a few days ago, and almost in the same way. He said that Maulana Shahid Latif’s name was used in various operations in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Maulana Shahid Latif was cautious these days.
According to a close relative of Maulana Shahid Latif, who was killed by unknown persons, ‘Maulana Shahid was cautious these days and had stopped socializing.
A close relative of Maulana Shahid Latif, on condition of anonymity, told that Maulana Shahid Latif was being very careful for some weeks. He had very limited his activities. According to his close relative, “He had mentioned a couple of times that his life was in danger.” A close relative said that he was taking various precautions. Faizullah Khan says that “prior to this incident, Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Ibrahim Mistry, Hizbul Mujahideen’s Imtiaz Alam, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Abu Qasim and now Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Maulana Shahid Latif have been targeted during prayer.
He says that ‘maybe the time of prayer has been chosen because at that time they cannot protect themselves and maybe they will not even have in their mind that they can be targeted in this way in the mosque.’ Majid Nizami said that information has reached me that some people have been arrested in previous incidents. The details of which are yet to be revealed.