A new revelation has exposed how Pakistan’s spy agency, ISI, is facilitating a dangerous nexus between two globally designated terrorist groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), in Balochistan. A photograph has surfaced showing ISKP’s Balochistan coordinator and Chief of Anti-Baloch Rebel Death Squad, Mir Shafiq Mengal, presenting a pistol to Rana Mohammad Ashfaq, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander. The image has sparked major concerns about Pakistan’s deepening terror alliances under the supervision of its intelligence agency.
Key Figures Behind the LeT–ISKP Alliance
Rana Mohammad Ashfaq, currently serving as the Nazim-e-Ala of Lashkar-e-Taiba, is responsible for expanding LeT’s network, establishing new markaz (training and indoctrination centres), and coordinating with other terror groups across different sects. On the other hand, Mir Shafiq Mengal, son of former Balochistan caretaker Chief Minister Nasir Mengal, has been running a private death squad since 2010 at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI to suppress Baloch fighters.
Since 2015, Mengal has actively coordinated with ISKP, providing shelter, weapons, and logistics to its operatives in Balochistan. This connection was first documented in Pakistan’s own Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report in 2015.
ISKP Operations in Balochistan
In 2018, ISKP established its first two major camps in Mastung and Khuzdar districts of Balochistan with direct logistical and financial assistance from ISI. Sources indicate that Mir Shafiq Mengal was appointed as the camp coordinator, responsible for supplying arms, cash, and operational support to ISKP terrorists. Mengal’s personal death squad, active since 2010, continues to target Baloch separatists.
Mengal also enjoys significant political protection; a 2023 photograph of him meeting Pakistan’s current president, Asif Ali Zardari, demonstrates his influence in Pakistan’s power corridors, raising serious questions about state complicity in terrorism.
After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the ISI allegedly reorganised ISKP operations in Balochistan. The Mastung camp was tasked with attacking Baloch fighters under Mengal’s command, while the Khuzdar camp focused on cross-border operations in Afghanistan. Mengal supplied both camps with weapons and logistics via ISI channels.
LeT Steps In Following Baloch Counterattack
In March 2025, Baloch insurgents launched a major counterattack on ISKP’s Mastung camp, killing nearly 30 ISKP terrorists. Sources suggest that in response, the ISI directed Lashkar-e-Taiba to deploy its cadres in Balochistan.
Following this, in June 2025, LeT’s top commander, Rana Mohammad Ashfaq, visited Balochistan, and shortly after, LeT deputy chief Saifullah Kasuri organised a Jigra to mobilise jihad against Baloch separatists, pledging to “wipe out anti-Pakistan groups” from the province.
The newly surfaced photograph of Ashfaq and Mengal together indicates that both terror outfits are now formally coordinating their efforts. It is believed that the LeT–ISKP collaboration will target both Baloch insurgents and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, acting as proxy tools for the ISI in the region.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has had a long presence in Balochistan. Its Markaz Taqwa in Quetta, led by Afghan jihad veteran Mian Saqib Hussain, has been operational for years. Between 2002 and 2009, LeT also ran a terror training camp in Balochistan where Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was trained in weapons handling in 2006.
With this renewed alliance, it is believed that Lashkar-e-Taiba may start sending its trained militants to fight alongside ISKP against Baloch insurgents and Taliban, just as it once dispatched jihadists to fight for Al-Qaeda during the Afghan jihad.
The emerging Lashkar–ISKP nexus in Balochistan marks a new, dangerous phase in Pakistan’s terror landscape—one where state-backed terror groups are merging under ISI supervision to serve strategic and sectarian goals across South Asia.
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