New Delhi: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) co-founder and US-designated terrorist Amir Hamza was shot at by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Lahore Thursday. This was the second attempt on his life in less than a year.
Sources in the Indian security establishment confirmed reports emerging from Pakistani media about the attempt on Hamza’s life, adding that he was rushed to a hospital.
Earlier in May, Hamza was injured in another attempt on his life which is believed to be a result of rivalry within the LeT.
News agency PTI quoted police in Pakistan’s Punjab province as having said that unidentified gunmen opened fire at a vehicle carrying Hamza and Justice (Retd) Nazir Ahmad Ghazi in Lahore.
The vehicle was operated by private TV news channel 24NewsHD, owned by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. Ghazi hosts a religious programme on the channel.
Hamza suffered bullet injuries in the attack, while Ghazi escaped unhurt.
Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), a political front for Hafiz Saeed’s banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), condemned the attempt on Hamza’s life and demanded that those involved be arrested immediately.
Once seen as an LeT ideologue, the 66-year-old Hamza is said to have had differences with Hafiz Saeed since 2018. He has been a fiery orator and edited the LeT’s weekly newspaper.
He also wrote several books, including the 2022 publication of Qafila Da’wat aur Shahadat (Caravan of Proselytising and Martyrdom) and headed LeT’s “special campaigns” department, which coordinated specific outreach and mobilisation efforts. He also played a key role in shaping the JuD and introducing the founding members to each other.
According to a 2012 report by DC-based think tank Jamestown Foundation, LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi brought Hamza into the fold in 1984 during one of the former’s visits to Pakistan to recruit new fighters. At the time, Hamza was an Ahl al-Hadith student. Ahl al-Hadith refers to various Islamic reformist movements that emphasise the use of hadith.
“In 1985 Lakhvi decided to organise the LeT as a jihadi group. Since the group comprised only the students from different Pakistani madrassas (Islamic seminaries), he needed an additional participant who could claim to be an accomplished alim (Islamic scholar),” the report said.
It added, “Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a teacher of Islamic studies at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, was one such person who could give some credibility to the group. Lakhvi asked Hamza in 1985 to meet Hafiz Saeed and convince him to lead the small group. Hamza met Saeed at the latter’s residence in Lahore. Saeed did not make a commitment initially however two years after the initial meeting Saeed took over command of the group.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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