Worry for India as ISKP and LeT working together, intel suggests

New worry for India is emerging with terror groups like Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are seen working together,an intel dossier indicates. ISKP is being repurposed by Pakistan's intel agency ISI to target Baloch separatists, uncooperative Taliban factions in Afghanistan, with attempts to destabilizeJ&K, India. Development in a year that saw Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan trained terrorists.

A new photo reveals ISKP’s Balochistan coordinator, Mir Shafiq Mengal, gifting a pistol to LeT commander Rana Mohammad Ashfaq,confirming their collaboration. Mir Shafiq Mengal has been facilitating ISKP’s operations, managing safe houses, funds, and arms in Mastung and Khuzdar camps while Ashfaq has been overseeing new terror hubs and coordinating with other extremist groups.

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By 2018, ISKP established bases in Mastung and Khuzdar with ISI support. Mengal led these camps, targeting Baloch rebels and conducting cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. LeT has operated in Balochistan for years, with a training camp in Quetta (2002–2009) where Indian Mujahideen’s Yasin Bhatkal trained in 2006. The current LeT-ISKP partnership mirrors past collaborations, like LeT’s work with Al-Qaeda during the Afghan jihad.

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New developments are a concern for India as an intel report indicates that ISKP’s propaganda magazine “Yalgaar" shows plans to expand attacks into Kashmir, India. This "emerging coalition of extremist entities not only intensifies the threat to Afghanistan...but also signals Pakistan Army’s intent to reignite militancy in Jammu & Kashmir" thereby "destabilizing regional peace under the guise of plausible deniability", the report said.