Pakistan Ordered Kabul Gurdwara Attacks; ISIS Was Only Asked To Take Responsibility – HT Reports

In the ghastly Gurdwara terror attack in Kabul, as many as 28 innocent people were killed, mostly Sikh worshippers. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the Kabul Gurdwara attacks, but media reports in India suggest that Pakistan could have ordered the attacks.

According to leading Indian media house – HindustanTimes, quoting their sources, the Kabul Gurdwara attack was ordered by Quetta Shura of Taliban at the direction of Pakistan with the larger motive of completely ousting India from Afghanistan.

The HT report says that the entire operation was code-named Blackstar by the Pakistan intelligence, which used the Haqqani network led by Taliban’s deputy commander Sirajuddin Haqqani and elements of LeT.

Talking to a senior official in the Indian security establishment, the HT report says that terrorists probably attacked the gurdwara because it was an easy target.

There have been warnings about a terror attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul and the consulate at Jalalabad for quite some time. It wouldn’t have been an easy target since the security had been beefed up there.

Post the US deal with Taliban, HT report says that there has been a surge in violence in Afghanistan with the resurgence of the Haqqani network and shifting of terror camps of both LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed from Pakistan.

According to media reports, the Haqqani network is in direct conflict with the minority Sikh community over land in Jalalabad and trade in Kabul. The report further claims that On July 1, 2019, the Haqqani network targeted the Sikh community in Jalalabad as they came to meet President Ashraf Ghani during his visit to Nangarhar province. In both cases, ISIS was allowed to take responsibility for the attack.

The report says that Pakistan is clearly setting sights on forcing India out of Afghanistan post-withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan. With Taliban, Haqqani network, LeT and JeM all controlled by Pakistan, Afghan soil will again be used to control Kabul and hit Kashmir.

Meanwhile, as the EurAsian Times reported, the Indian Embassy in Kabul is in touch with family members of the victims of the cowardly terror attack, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.

“Understandable grief and anger at the cowardly terrorist attack on Gurudwara in #Kabul. Our Embassy @IndianEmbKabul is in continuous touch with the families of those killed and injured,” Jaishankar tweeted.

India on Wednesday strongly condemned the terror attack, saying targeting of a religious place in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic reflected the “diabolical mindset” of the perpetrators and their backers.

“Such cowardly attacks on the places of religious worship of the minority community, especially at this time of COVID-19 pandemic, is reflective of the diabolical mindset of the perpetrators and their backers,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.