Pakistan’s intelligence establishment, operating through terror proxies, is actively threatening to assassinate Kashmiri intellectuals who expose Islamabad’s state sponsored terrorism on global platforms.
As Pakistan prepares to stage its annual propaganda exercise on 5 February observed as so-called “Kashmir Solidarity Day” its intelligence establishment, operating through terror proxies, is actively threatening to assassinate Kashmiri intellectuals who expose Islamabad’s state sponsored terrorism on global platforms.
In a fresh escalation, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), functioning under its proxy name The Resistance Front (TRF) has issued a direct death threat to prominent counter-terrorism expert Junaid Qureshi, Director of the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS). The threat was delivered through an end-to-end encrypted messaging platform using TRF branding.
In the message, Qureshi was labelled a “traitor,” with the group explicitly stating it would have “no hesitation” in killing him. This marks the second such threat within six months against individuals who challenge Pakistan’s terrorism narrative and expose its proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir before international audiences.
The gravity of the threat is reinforced by past patterns of violence. Between 1989 and 2020, Pakistan-backed terrorist outfits killed over 5,000 Kashmiri civilians, journalists, politicians, and intellectuals for opposing terrorism or supporting India. The assassination of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari in June 2018 after months of open threats by Hizbul Mujahideen remains one of the most stark examples. More recently, social activist Ghulam Rasool Magray was killed in Kupwara in April last year by suspected terrorists.
Speaking to a Reputed Media Outlet, Junaid Qureshi directly blamed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), stating that the threat was orchestrated by the agency and executed through Lashkar-e-Taiba and its commander Sheikh Sajjad Gul. He pointed out that the threat letter referenced sensitive details about a proposed Kashmiri intellectual think tank information not available in the public domain and known only to a limited circle strongly indicating direct intelligence involvement.
Qureshi further stated that the letter explicitly referred to his efforts to dismantle Pakistan’s propaganda on Kashmir and present documented evidence at international platforms—an agenda that Pakistan’s security establishment perceives as a direct threat. Junaid Qureshi is notably the son of Hashim Quraishi, one of the hijackers of Air India flight IC-405 in 1971. However, he has consistently and publicly rejected his father’s ideology, categorically calling the hijacking an act of terrorism that occurred before his birth. Through EFSAS, Qureshi has systematically exposed Pakistan’s claim of a “freedom struggle” in Kashmir, demonstrating with evidence that it is, in reality, a state-sponsored terror campaign run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Jaish-e-Mohammed under ISI direction.
Sources in the defence and security establishment have confirmed that the encrypted account used to issue the threat is operated from Rawalpindi and is directly controlled by LeT commander Sheikh Sajjad Gul. The account, created on 24 August 2025 under a pseudonym, is routinely used to disseminate TRF propaganda, including operational updates and photographs, further establishing Pakistan based command and control behind the threat.
The episode once again exposes the contradiction at the heart of Pakistan’s Kashmir narrative. While Islamabad publicly claims solidarity with Kashmiris on 5 February, its intelligence agency continues to use terror groups to intimidate, silence, and eliminate Kashmiri voices that challenge its narrative both within the region and internationally.