The newly surfaced photograph highlighting ISKP coordinator Mir Shafiq Mengal handing a pistol to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Rana Mohammad Ashfaq underscores a troubling evolution in Pakistan’s terror ecosystem, revealing a coordinated alliance between two of the region’s most dangerous militant groups under alleged ISI patronage. This image signals a formal operational partnership that expands ISI’s longstanding strategy of employing proxy groups to further Pakistan’s regional objectives, particularly in Balochistan and Afghanistan.
Historically, ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province), widely denounced across the Islamic world and even by the Taliban as un-Islamic, has been repurposed by the Pakistani military establishment as an instrument of hybrid warfare. Mir Shafiq Mengal, son of former Balochistan caretaker Chief Minister Nasir Mengal, has been a pivotal ISI asset for over a decade, running a private death squad targeting Baloch nationalists and overseeing ISKP operations in Mastung and Khuzdar. These facilities serve as both insurgent-targeting camps and cross-border operational hubs, with arms, funding, and logistics funneled through ISI intermediaries.
The recent arrival of LeT chief Rana Mohammad Ashfaq and his deputy Saifullah Kasuri in Balochistan reflects an intensification of this coordinated strategy. Analysts believe the LeT-ISKP partnership is engineered to jointly target Baloch separatists and Taliban factions resisting Pakistani influence, effectively creating a hybrid state-backed terror apparatus. Historically, LeT has maintained a presence in Balochistan through facilities such as the Markaz Taqwa in Quetta, and its fighters have previously trained alongside Al-Qaeda operatives during the Afghan jihad. The current convergence with ISKP signals a deeper, more structured collaboration aimed at advancing Islamabad’s regional agenda.
The implications of this alliance are severe. Ideologically distinct groups are now operationally aligned, bridging ISKP’s jihadist ambitions with LeT’s regional militancy, creating a more lethal and versatile proxy force. The ISI’s involvement provides these groups with protection, funding, and strategic direction, allowing them to execute targeted operations with near impunity. Such a state-backed nexus exacerbates instability in Balochistan, threatens Taliban elements in Afghanistan that resist Pakistan’s influence, and poses a renewed threat to broader South Asian security.
This development illustrates a dangerous transformation in Pakistan’s terror strategy, where state sponsorship has enabled formerly isolated extremist groups to merge into a unified operational framework. The LeT-ISKP partnership, under ISI supervision, exemplifies how geopolitical objectives are being pursued through coordinated proxy warfare, complicating regional counterterrorism efforts and further destabilizing an already volatile landscape in South Asia.
