1.Lashkar-e-Omar
Lashkar-e-Omar (LeO) is a new terrorist group reportedly founded in January 2002 and is a conglomerate of Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) cadres.The etymology of Lashkar-e-Omar is yet not clear. According to some reports, it is named after Mullah Mohammed Omar, chief of the Taliban militia. Other reports have indicated that the name is allegedly a direct homage to Syed Ahmed Omar Sheikh, a front-ranking JeM terrorist who was, on July 15, 2002, sentenced to life.
Their version of Islam is akin to that of the Taliban militia of Afghanistan. The LeO’s ideological underpinning is a mixture of Islamist fundamentalism and totalitarian thinking.
The LeO, according to media reports, was formed as a loose coalition of terrorists. While the group provides new cover for terrorist actions of LeJ, JeM and HuJI, it also includes several like-minded ‘freelancers’.
LeO cadres comprise of various Taliban members, certain Al Qaeda terrorists and terrorists from the HuJI, LeJ and JeM. Reports have indicated that Pakistani cadres of terrorist groups and Islamist parties allied with Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front (IIF), who managed to survive the US air strikes in Afghanistan and crossed over into Pakistan, are also part of the LeO.The LeO has close linkages with the Al Qaeda and several terrorist groups active in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Karachi based Al-Rashid Trust (ART) is reportedly funding the Lashkar-e-Omar.The ART is one of the 27 groups and organisations listed by US State Department on September 22, 2001 for involvement in financing and supporting a network of international Islamist terrorist groups.
2.Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
Of the terrorist outfits currently operating in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) is the one of the largest, with a cadre base drawn from indigenous and foreign sources. It is one of the most important terrorist outfits in terms of its effectiveness in perpetrating violence across the State at regular intervals.
The HM came into being in the Kashmir Valley in September 1989 with Master Ahsan Dar as its chief. The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen stands for the integration of J&K with Pakistan. Since its inception, the HM has also campaigned for the Islamisation of Kashmir. Headquartered at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Currently, the HM is organised into five divisions: central division for Srinagar, northern division for Kupwara-Bandipora-Baramulla, southern division for Anantnag and Pulwama districts, Chenab division for Doda district and Gool in the Udhampur district, and Pir Panjal Division for the Rajouri and Poonch districts.
The HM has its own news agency, Kashmir Press International, and a women's wing.The HM is reported to have a close association with the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence and the United Jehad Council, and other terrorist organizations operating out of Pakistan. The proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is also believed to have links with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
3.Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, has been in existence twice in the history of that country’s involvement in cross-border terrorism. In the interim between the two phases, it continued to exist, but under the name of the Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA). While the first renaming was an outcome of a reorganisation effected by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, among its various sponsored terrorist outfits in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).The HuA was categorised as a terrorist outfit by the US in 1997 following reports that it was linked with Osama binLaden, and his Al Qaeda.The outfit immediately adopted the name of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen to escape the ramifications of the proscription.Despite public knowledge that the HuM was a recast version of the HuA, the US had refused to categorise the outfit as a terrorist outfit.However, following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in the US, the outfit came under scrutiny of the US government for its extensive links with Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the terrorist attacks. On September 25, US President George W. Bush signed an order officially banning the outfit.
The HuM was originally formed in 1985, to participate in the Jehad against Soviet forces protecting the Communist regime in Afghanistan. It was a formed by a group that walked out of another jehadi group, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). With the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, the outfit turned its attention to J&K, where terrorist violence had been unleashed by Pakistan supported outfits in 1988.
Indian security forces (SFs) arrested three of its top leaders in quick succession. The HuA made several attempts to obtain the release of the arrested leaders by abducting SF personnel and foreign tourists and using them as hostages.Subsequently, suspected HuM terrorists, hijacked the Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal, forced the pilot to fly to Kandahar, Afghanistan and with the protection and support of the Taliban regime, successfully obtained the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Umar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtak Ahmed Zargar, commander of the Al Umar, a militant group with a predominantly Kashmiri cadre base.
4.Lashkar-e-Toiba
Formed in 1990 in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (also known as Jama’at-ud-Da’awa) is based in Muridke near Lahore in Pakistan and is headed by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Its first presence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was recorded in 1993 when 12 Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries infiltrated across the Line of Control (LoC) in tandem with the Islami Inquilabi Mahaz, a terrorist outfit then active in the Poonch district of J&K.
The LeT is outlawed in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The LeT’s professed ideology goes beyond merely challenging India's sovereignty over the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lashkar's ‘agenda’, as outlined in a pamphlet titled Why are we waging jihad includes the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India. Further, the outfit seeks to bring about a union of all Muslim majority regions in countries that surround Pakistan. Towards that end, it is active in J&K, Chechnya and other parts of Central Asia.
Hafiz Saeed, a scholar of Islam, has said that the purpose of Jihad is to carry out a sustained struggle for the dominance of Islam in the entire world and to eliminate the evil forces and the ignorant. He considers India, Israel and US to be his prime enemies and has threatened to launch Fidayeen (suicide squad) attacks on American interests too. The Lashkar-e-Toiba does not believe in democracy and nationalism. According to its ideology, it is the duty of every 'Momin' to protect and defend the interests of Muslims all over the world where Muslims are under the rule of non-Muslim in the democratic system. It has, thus chosen the path of Jihad as the suited means to achieve its goal. Cadres are drawn from the Wahabi school of thought.
The LeT has consistently advocated the use of force and vowed that it would plant the 'flag of Islam' in Washington, Tel Aviv and New Delhi. The outfit’s headquarters (200 acres) is located at Muridke, 30 kms from Lahore, which was built with contributions and donations from the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia being the biggest benefactor.
The headquarters houses a Madrassa (seminary), a hospital, a market, a large residential area for ‘scholars’ and faculty members, a fish farm and agricultural tracts. The LeT also reportedly operates 16 Islamic institutions, 135 secondary schools, an ambulance service, mobile clinics, blood banks and several seminaries across Pakistan. LeT publishes its views and opinion through its Website , an Urdu monthly journal, Al-Dawa, which has a circulation of 80,000, and an Urdu weekly, Gazwa. It also publishes Voice of Islam, an English monthly, and Al-Rabat - monthly in Arabic, Mujala-e-Tulba - Urdu monthly for students, Jehad Times - Urdu Weekly.
Within Pakistan, the outfit has a network of training camps and branch offices, which undertake recruitment and collection of finances. It comprises cadres mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan and a sprinkling of militants from Sudan, Bahrain, Central Asia, Turkey and Libya. Funded, armed and trained by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISl, the external intelligence agency of Pakistan).
While the primary area of operations of the Lashkar-e-Toiba is Jammu and Kashmir, the outfit has carried out attacks in other parts of India, including in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Kolkata, Gujarat, etc. It reportedly has cells in many cities/towns outside Jammu and Kashmir.
The LeT has been able to network with several Islamist extremist organizations across India, especially in J&K, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat. LeT is actively engaged in subversive activities in the States of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Hyderabad, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh at the instance of ISI to expand the frontier of violence outside J&K by subverting fringe elements. Of all the Pakistan-based terrorist groups, the LeT is the only group with support bases across India. The Lashkar-e-Toiba has training camps spread across Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Its camps, recruitment centres/offices are spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan and PoK in Muzaffarabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Multan, Quetta, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gilgit (in the Northern Area of PoK), etc. LeT reportedly has 2,200 offices across Pakistan.
The LeT allegedly carried out the terrorist attack at the Indian Institute of Science campus in Bangalore on December 28, 2005, in which one person was killed; Earlier, on October 29, 2005, it engineered the serial explosions in New Delhi killing at least 62 persons; It is also suspected to have carried out the Varanasi attack on March 7, 2006 in which 21 civilians died and 62 others were injured; Three suspected LeT terrorists were shot dead during an abortive attempt to storm the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu organization, at Nagpur in Maharashtra on June 1, 2006; The LeT, according to Mumbai Police, carried out the 7/11 serial bombings in Mumbai in which at least 200 people were killed.
Arrests made during March-April 2004 near Baghdad brought to light links between the LeT and Islamist groups fighting the United States military in Iraq.
The outfit provides training to both militant cadres and the religious scholars.Its militant cadres are given two months training in the handling of AK series rifles, LMGs, pistols, rocket launchers and hand grenades. It also provides a 21-day training programme and a three months specialized training programme.
Lashkar-e-Toiba is credited for having initiated the strategy of Fidayeen (suicide squad) attacks in J&K. It has formed two sub-groups, the first group consists of highly motivated terrorists, the second comprises terrorists suffering from incurable diseases.
Compared to other terrorist outfits in J&K, the LeT has commanded significant attention primarily due to two reasons. First, for its well planned and executed attacks on security force (SF) targets and secondly, for the massacres of Hindu civilians.
The group is closely linked to the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Taliban and al Qaeda. The Lashkar today has emerged as a very major force. It has connectivity with west Asia, Europe.It is as big as and omnipotent as al Qaeda in every sense of the term.
The outfit collects donations from the Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and United Kingdom, Islamic Non-Governmental Organisations, and Pakistani and Kashmiri businessmen. It receives considerable financial, material and other forms of assistance from the Pakistan government, routed primarily through the ISI. The ISI is the main source of LeT's funding. Saudi Arabia also provides funds.
The LeT maintains ties to various religious/military groups around the world, ranging from the Philippines to the Middle East and Chechnya primarily through the al Qaeda fraternal network.It has allegedly set up sleeper cells in the U.S. and Australia, trained terrorists from other countries and has entered new theatres of Jihad like Iraq.
5.Jaish-e-Mohammed
The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has been held responsible for the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. The outfit has been banned by the Indian government under provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is a relatively new terrorist outfit, compared to other major outfits active in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the JeM too is an outfit formed, controlled and manned by Pakistan. The outfit was launched on January 31, 2000, by Maulana Masood Azhar in Karachi after he was released from an Indian jail during the terrorists for hostage swap of December 31, 1999, following the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight IC 814.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed is part of the Islamist terror network with its base in Pakistan and active in the terrorist violence in J&K. The outfit, like other terrorist outfits in J&K, claims to using violence to force a withdrawal of Indian security forces from J&K. The outfit claims that each of its offices in Pakistan would serve as schools of jihad.Delivering speeches at various cities and towns in Pakistan after his release, Masood Azhar threatened that the outfit would eliminate Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who he termed as 'Abu Jahl’ (Father of Ignorance). In its fight against India, he added that the outfit would not only "liberate" Kashmir, but also would take control of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Amritsar and Delhi.
Most Jaish-e-Mohammed attacks have been described as fidayeen (suicide terrorist) attacks. In this mode, terrorists of the outfit storm a high security target, including security forces' bases, camps and convoys. After storming, they either fortify themselves within the target, killing as many security force personnel and civilians as possible before they are killed by retaliatory action. In other cases, they kill and injure as many as possible before attempting to escape.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed has largely confined its operations within J&K. The only recorded instance of its operations outside J&K has been the December 13, 2001, Parliament attack in New Delhi.
6.Al Badr
The Al Badr, currently an active terrorist outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.The Al Badr was formed in June 1998 with the professed goal of strengthening the ‘Kashmiri freedom struggle’ and to ‘liberate’ the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir and merge it with Pakistan. Al Badr reportedly traces its origins to 1971 when a group of the same name carried out attacks on Bengalis in what was then known as East Pakistan.
The outfit has in the past indicated that it perceives Kashmir to be the ‘gateway of India’ and describes its objective as the ‘liberation’ of Muslims in the rest of India after ‘occupying’ Kashmir.
The outfit is headquartered at Mansehra in Pakistan. It is also reported to have a camp office in Muzaffarabad, PoK.
It is reported to have training camps in the Manshera area of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan, Kotli and Muzaffarabad in PoK. Al Badr cadres are reported to have taken an active part, under the ISI tutelage, in the Kargil intrusion of 1999.
7.Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen
The Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM) was the first breakaway faction of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) that emerged out of a personality clash between Master Ahsan Dar, the then Chief of the outfit and Hilal Ahmed Mir. Mir, who used the code-name Nasirul Islam opposed the move to transform the Hizb into Jamaat-e-Islami's armed wing. It was formed in 1990 with Sheikh Abdul Basit as its Chief. Its followers are mostly Kashmiris.
The Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen played a significant role in the early years of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. However, it has not been able to maintain its momentum, despite remaining active in several parts of the State over the years. he outfit has come out strongly against the recent peace initiatives of both India and Pakistan as it considers violence as the only means to settle the Kashmir issue. The JUM also supports the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan.
8.Lashkar-e-Jabbar
The existence of Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LJ) was first reported by the local media in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2001.The outfit meant "business in implementing the Islamic dress code in Kashmir". For an outfit that has cornered publicity on a large scale, little is known of its origin or character. There has only been speculation.Another news report claiming to cite intelligence reports submitted to the Prime Minister said that the outfit was promoted by other terrorist outfits to make the use of burqas widespread and consequently to use these for launching attacks on security forces. These intelligence reports have reportedly added that Lashkar-e-Jabbar was also receiving overt and covert support from the Pakistan-based Madrassa, which in turn was funded by wealthy Pakistanis and other Muslims living in West Asian countries.
9.Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI)
The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) is a Pakistan-based terrorist group with an affiliate in Bangladesh. While the exact formation date of the group is not known, its origin is traced to the Soviet-Afghan war. The HuJI continued to exist after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 by merging with another Pakistani militant group known as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The HuJI belongs to the Deobandi school of thought and its recruits are indoctrinated in the mould of radical Islam. By describing itself as the "second line of defence for every Muslim", it aims to establish Islamic rule by waging war. The group operating in Bangladesh, HuJI-B, aims to establish Islamic rule in the country by waging war and killing progressive intellectuals. It draws inspiration from Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.The HuJI supports, like the other Pakistan-based terrorist groups, the secession of J&K from India and its eventual accession to Pakistan, essentially through violence. It also propagates the idea of Islamic rule over all parts of India.
After the HuJI lost its base in Afghanistan following the US military operations in 2001, most of its leaders, took shelter in South Waziristan in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas
While the present global influence of the HuJI is not known, its presence has been reported from more than 20 countries in the past. The HuJI, according to one report, had spread its wings by 2005 to 24 countries, including India, Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Iran, Malaysia, Fiji, UK, US, Ireland, the Philippines, and parts of Africa and the West Asia.
The HuJI’s operations in J&K began in 1991 and it was reportedly managed by a semi-autonomous unit, the HuJI activities in Jammu and Kashmir have progressively declined since 9/11.
The HuJI has also been linked to the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur on May 13, 2008. "While the SIMI [Students Islamic Movement of India] module might have comprised locals, HuJI could have sent some of its men from outside the state, even from Bangladesh.
Available evidence indicates that the HuJI has a strong network in western Uttar Pradesh. The HuJI modules active in Uttar Pradesh are reportedly being monitored from Bangladesh.
Since 2005, militant groups like the HuJI, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have, with considerable assistance from local groups like the SIMI, established an extensive network in Uttar Pradesh. While the HuJI has a strong network in western Uttar Pradesh, its cadre have reportedly infiltrated into all regions of the State. Recent trends have demonstrated the involvement of technically qualified youth within the HuJI fold and the ability of its cadre "to operate autonomously in small cells, deadly use of explosive devices, careful selection of soft and hard targets and willingness to inflict mass casualties."
The HuJI is reported to have also established several sleeper cells across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The HuJI is closely linked to the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Taliban and al Qaeda. The group receives patronage and support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and is also linked with several Islamist groups operating in India, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). According to intelligence sources, the group’s anti-India operations are planned by the ISI, mostly from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.The HUJI-B has coordinated its attacks along with the SIMI, the LeT and JeM. SIMI cadres have provided to the HUJI-B cadres shelter and logistical help prior to the attack. A number of SIMI cadres have also joined the HUJI-B.Further, the HuJI maintains links with militant groups operating in India's Northeast, including the Assam-based United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Manipur-based People’s United Liberation Front (PULF). The HuJI is reportedly running some of ULFA's camps situated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh along the border of Tripura.
10.Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen
The Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) was formed in June 1990.The TuM aims to merge the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with Pakistan and also promote a pan-Islamist identity.The TuM is dominated by foreign mercenaries recruited from Pakistan and PoK although a certain percentage of its cadres are also drawn from J&K. TuM operates primarily in the Kashmir Valley, especially in the Beeru belt of Budgam district, Ganderbal and downtown localities of Srinagar, Pulwama and Anantnag districts. In year 1990, it opened an office at Muzaffarabad in PoK and sent its cadres for arms training.
It has received funds from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, UK, USA and Gulf Countries primarily through organisations. TuM bases in Nepal were utilised to ferry Pakistan-made explosives and movement of cadres from India to Pakistan and vice versa.The Kathmandu network was used extensively by the TuM to distribute funds received through Hawala transactions for a number of terrorist groups in J&K. It receives considerable assistance from Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the PoK government.
11.Al Umar Mujahideen (AuM)
Al Umar Mujahideen was formed in December 1989, with a membership primarily drawn from recruits in downtown Srinagar, capital city of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The AuM aims to liberate the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir through an armed struggle and merge it with Pakistan. Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar is the ‘chief commander’ of Al Umar Mujahideen.Zargar is reported to have executed several attacks on security force personnel and a series of murders of the Kashmiri Pandits (descendants of Brahman priests).Apart from attacks on civilians and security forces, Zargar also indulged in extortion and used his ‘influence’ to intervene in local business and property disputes in Srinagar. The AuM headquarters is located at the Narul locality in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). The outfit has, since inception, been funded and supported by the ISI. It also secures substantial assistance from the PoK government based in Muzaffarabad.
12.Al Barq
13.Al Jehad
14.Jammu & Kashir National Liberation Army
15.People’s League
16.Muslim Janbaz Force
17.Kashmir Jehad Force
18.Al Jehad Force (combines Muslim Janbaz Force and Kashmir Jehad Force)
19.Mahaz-e-Azadi
20.Islami Jamaat-e-Tulba
21.Jammu & Kashmir Students Liberation Front
22.Ikhwan-ul-Mujahideen
23.Islamic Students League
24.Tehrik-e-Hurriat-e-Kashmir
25.Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqar Jafaria
26.Al Mustafa Liberation Fighters
27.Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami
28.Muslim Mujahideen
29.Al Mujahid Force
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