Recently, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police was killed in Amritsar. Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan, an unknown terror outfit, claimed responsibility for the killing.
It reportedly circulated a video of the killing as well. The same organisation claimed responsibility for the killing of two cops in Gurdaspur district in February this year.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan appears to be a counterpart to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has brought the Pakistan Army to its knees in the western region bordering Afghanistan.
The script for Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan appears to have come straight from the mind of Pakistan's de facto military dictator Asim Munir, also known as 'Mullah Munir' for his rabidly radical and extremist religious views and hostility towards India and Hindus, which he proclaims proudly in public.
Munir has quite a few striking similarities with another former military dictator, Gen Zia-ul-Haq. Both have their origins in Jalandhar. While Zia was a first-generation immigrant from Jalandhar, Munir is a second-generation immigrant to Pakistan. His parents had migrated from Jalandhar to the newly created Islamic state at the time of Partition.
Like Zia, who was quite orthodox and would always carry a copy of the Quran with him, Munir also believes in a puritanical interpretation of Islam and considers India and Hindus enemy number one. Munir has, in fact, memorised the entire Quran, which qualifies him to be a 'Hafiz-e-Quran', one who has memorised the entire Quran.
Like Zia, who had endeared himself to the United States using the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, Munir has also endeared himself to US President Donald Trump, for different and multiple reasons.
The only difference is that, unlike Zia, who captured power in a military coup, Munir still remains "officially" only the military boss. Otherwise, it is practically his writ that runs across the country. He really does not need to stage a coup, as he has already been "acknowledged and recognised" by the United States and its President as the de facto head of the Islamic state.
Pakistan is faced with a deadly problem of Islamic terror in its western regions bordering Afghanistan. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, is the most active militant group in the region. It has been involved in several terror attacks, killing military personnel, civilians and even schoolchildren. The Pakistani Taliban attacked a military-run school in Peshawar in 2014 and killed about 150 people, 134 of whom were students. They are ruthless.
Pakistan has been accusing India of supporting the Taliban, a baseless charge that India has rightly rejected time and again.
On March 11, 2025, militants of the Balochistan Liberation Army attacked the Jaffar Express train and took all the passengers hostage. The Pakistani Army launched an operation to free the passengers, in which there were several casualties on both sides-the Pakistani Army and the BLA-as well as among civilian passengers.
A month later, on April 16, 2025, Asim Munir addressed a gathering of non-resident Pakistanis, where he referred to the Balochistan Liberation Army. He also, in the same speech, said that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together while explaining the concept of Pakistan.
Within a week, on April 22, 2025, a deadly terror attack took place in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 tourists were killed by militants. The victims were specifically asked about their religion before they were shot dead one by one. This undoubtedly looked like a follow-up to Munir's speech, in which he said Hindus and Muslims are two separate peoples and cannot live together. He actually described and identified Hindus as enemies of Pakistan. That explains why the terrorists first asked the victims about their religion and killed them afterwards.
In February this year, two Punjab Police personnel were killed near the border in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. The, so far, unknown terrorist group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan, claimed responsibility for the killings.
A few days ago, another cop was killed in Amritsar while he was on his way to duty. Again, Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan claimed responsibility for the killing. It later circulated a video of the killing as well.
While Pakistan has always been involved in abetting terrorism in India, it is for the first time that an organisation like Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan has been made to claim responsibility. It is a clear message to India, which Pakistan baselessly accuses of supporting the TTP, that if there can be a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, there can be a Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan as well.
The TTP has a clear mission and goal to overthrow the Pakistan government and establish Sharia rule across Pakistan. TTH has no known existence anywhere.
Indian intelligence agencies believe that the ISI has been using Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terror mastermind Shehzad Bhatti to recruit terrorists in India. Bhatti is reportedly working with some Punjab-based gangster-criminal networks to recruit and handle individuals to carry out acts of terror.
Naming the criminal-terror network Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan is not only a subtle message but also a clear challenge to security agencies in India. Pakistan's intelligence and security establishments have grown increasingly fearful of the killings of terrorists inside their country, for which they are also blaming India.
Setting up terror networks like Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan is just a clownish and foolish attempt, so characteristic of Pakistan and the ISI, to challenge Indian security agencies within Indian territory. This will not succeed, as Indian security agencies are capable of tackling such threats not only within the country but outside it as well. Who knows it better than the ISI?