Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; Urdu: لشکرِ طیبہ [ˈləʃkər eː ˈt̪ɛːjba]; literally Army of the Good, translated as Army of the Righteous, or Army of the Pure and alternatively spelled as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar-i-Tayyeba)[4][57][58] is a terrorist group formed in Pakistan,[59] militant and Islamist Salafi jihadist organisation. Described as one of Pakistan's "most powerful jihadi groups", it is most infamous outside Pakistan. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan.[22][60] It was founded in 1985–86 by Hafiz Saeed, Zafar Iqbal Shehbaz Abdullah Azzam and several other Islamist mujahideen[61][62][63][64] with funding from Osama bin Laden[65][32] during the Soviet–Afghan War. It has been designated a terrorist group by numerous countries.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
لشکرِ طیبہ
Jamaat-ud-Dawa
جماعت الدعوہ
- Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
- Zafar Iqbal Shehbaz
- Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
Zafar Iqbal[1] (Co-founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawa)
Muhammad Yahya Mujahid[2]
- The Resistance Front and United Liberation Front[a]
- Virginia jihad network[16]
- Jamaat-ud-Dawa[17][18]
- Milli Muslim League[19]
- Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah (negated)[20]
Integration of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan[21][22]
Worldwide Predominantly in the Indian subcontinent
Active
State opponents
Formerly:
Soviet Union (1987–1989)[40]
Republic of Afghanistan (1987–1992)
Northern Alliance[52]
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (until 2021)[53]
Affiliated organisations that share the group's "ideological inclinations and motivations" include the Milli Muslim League, a political party, and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the group's "charity wing", a front for the LeT that emerged later. The group differs from most other militant organisations in Pakistan in following the Islamic interpretation of Ahl-i Hadith (which is similar to Wahhabism and Salafism), and in foreswearing attacks on the government of Pakistan and sectarian attacks on Pakistanis "who have professed faith" in Islam.[10][19][66]
As of late 2010, Iqbal was in charge of the LeT/JuD finance[1] department.[1] As of early 2010, Iqbal was also the director of the LeT/JuD education. As of 2010, Iqbal[1] was also the president of the LeT/JuD medical wing and secretary of a university trust created by LeT/JuD to carry out unspecified activities on behalf of the group.
History[edit]
Formation[edit]
In 1985, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and Zafar Iqbal[1] formed the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (Organization for Preaching, or JuD) as a small missionary group dedicated to promoting an Ahl-e-Hadith version of Islam. In the next year, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakvi merged his group of anti-Soviet jihadists with the JuD to form the Markaz-ud Dawa-wal-Irshad (Center for Preaching and Guidance, or MDI). The MDI had 17 founders originally, and notable among them was Abdullah Azzam. Azzam would be killed in a car bombing orchestrated by Khad in 1989.
The LeT was formed in Afghanistan's Kunar province in 1990[4] and gained prominence in the early 1990s as a military offshoot of MDI.[5] MDI's primary concerns were dawah and the LeT focused on jihad although the members did not distinguish between the two groups' functions. According to Hafiz Saeed, "Islam propounds both dawa[h] and jihad. Both are equally important and inseparable. Since our life revolves around Islam, therefore both dawa and jihad are essential; we cannot prefer one over the other."[10]
Most of these training camps were located in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and many were shifted to Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) for the sole purpose of training volunteers for terrorism in Kashmir India. From 1991 onward, militancy surged in Kashmir India, as many Lashkar-e-Taiba volunteers were infiltrated into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) with the help of the Pakistan Army and ISI.[87] As of 2010, the degree of control that Pakistani intelligence retains over LeT's operations is not known.
Designation as terrorist group[edit]
On 28 March 2001, in Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 1261, British Home Secretary Jack Straw designated the group a Proscribed Terrorist Organization under the Terrorism Act 2000.[88][89]
On 5 December 2001, the group was added to the Terrorist Exclusion List. In a notification dated 26 December 2001, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, designated Lashkar-e-Taiba a Foreign Terrorist Organization.[4]
Lashkar-e-Taiba was banned in Pakistan on 12 January 2002.[58]
It is banned in India as a designated terrorist group under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
It was listed as a terrorist organization in Australia under the Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002 on 11 April 2003 and was re-listed on 11 April 2005 and 31 March 2007.[90][91]
On 2 May 2008, it was placed on the Consolidated List established and maintained by the committee established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 as an entity associated with al-Qaeda. The report also proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a front group of the LeT.[92] Bruce Riedel, an expert on terrorism, believes that LeT with the support of its Pakistani backers is more dangerous than al-Qaeda.[93]