Over five years ago, Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terrorist, Shahid Latif, who is reported to be the chief handler of the fidayeen squad that attacked the Pathankot airbase in January, was actually released by the UPA government in May 2010 in a goodwill gesture, reports Times Of India.
This development is likely to result in a major embarrassment for the Congress party and seriously dent its attack directed towards the Modi government of “messing up” while dealing with Pakistan on the Pathankot attack probe.
The Congress has accused the Centre of playing into its hands of Pakistan after it allowed a probe team from there to visit Pathankot air base.
Latif, who was languishing in Indian prison for over a decade was reportedly among the 25 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and JeM who were released in May 2010 by the Manmohan Singh government in a bid to reach out to Pakistan.
Latif was sentenced to 16 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 40,000 in 2003 for terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
The BJP’s leaders lashed out at the Congress over this issue:
(Feature image source: PTI)