New Delhi, October 5, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) may intensify attacks on Deobandi organisations and institutions perceived to be sympathetic to Afghanistan’s Taliban, according to intelligence inputs cited by officials.
Security officials said such attacks have occurred in Pakistan over the past two years, but incidents could increase significantly amid growing tensions between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban.
According to an Intelligence Bureau official cited in the report, the ISKP has historically justified attacks on Deobandi organisations, political parties and religious scholars on ideological grounds. The group has described South Asian Deobandi Hanafi jurisprudence as an illegitimate interpretation of Islam and has labelled some institutions and adherents as apostates.
The official further claimed that the ISKP is now receiving backing from elements within the Pakistani establishment and is being used against the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). These claims could not be independently verified.
Officials said organisations supporting the Afghan Taliban could increasingly come under the ISKP’s focus, with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) identified as a potential major target because of its stated support for the Taliban.
In 2023, an ISKP suicide bombing at a JUI-F political rally in Bajaur district killed nearly 60 people. The group has also been accused of killing JUI-F leaders in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Security officials said Deobandi seminaries and madrasas sympathetic to the Afghan Taliban could also face heightened threats. Analysts cited in the report believe such attacks could be aimed at undermining the Taliban network by demonstrating that it is unable to protect groups and institutions aligned with it.
The ISKP and TTP also remain adversaries, while Pakistan has sought to counter the TTP and has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban, without providing proof cited here, of allowing the Pakistani militant group to operate from Afghan territory.
Officials said the relationship between Pakistan and the ISKP was markedly different when the extremist group first emerged in Afghanistan, when it regarded Pakistan’s establishment as an enemy and carried out attacks targeting it.
According to security officials, the deterioration in relations between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban has altered the regional security environment. They said Pakistan’s efforts to weaken the TTP, combined with its tensions with the Taliban, could create circumstances that the ISKP seeks to exploit for its own objectives.
Officials cautioned that attacks against Taliban-friendly organisations could therefore increase as the ISKP attempts to expand its influence and weaken rival militant and political networks.
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