The new chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is a Pakistani of Kashmiri origin and operates from the Pakistani town of Bahawalpur. After Abdul Wahid Kashmiri was designated the chief of Lashkar following the arrest of leader Hafeez Syed by Islamabad, intelligence agencies could find little on him in their records. Wahid is operating from Bahawalpur in tandem with other top leaders, including Abul Ubaid, Abu Usman and Abul Thalla. Usman is the overall in-charge of the military operations of the group, Ubaid looks after operations in the Jammu region and Abu Thalla in Kashmir. "We don't think there is any change," a senior intel officer said.
Fits in with my expectation that the leadership would remain where it's safe and warm and cozy, while the cannon fodder went across the border to shoot people and get killed. As my sainted father used to say, "Tough guys always end up working for smart guys." And the smart guys consider themselves too important to let themselves be killed in action. |