Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, LeT and JeM

The Hindu

11-05-2025

Flanked by top Pakistani military officials, Abdur Rauf, a local cleric and a U.S.-designated terrorist, led prayers for those killed on May 7 by Indian attacks, inside Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) headquarters in Muridke, Punjab. Wrapped in Pakistan's 'Star and Cresent' flag, the slain were awarded 'state honours', and wreaths were reportedly laid by Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on their remains.
Indian security officials confirmed on May 10 that five high-profile terrorists were killed during 'Operation Sindoor'. India said it hit nine terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan. Hafiz Muhammad Jameel and Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, two brothers-in-law of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, LeT commanders Mudassar Khadian, Khalid and JeM's Mohammad Hassan Khan were among the dead.
For more than three decades, these three outfits have been responsible for attacks across India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attack and the recent (April 22) Pahalgam massacre. Here's a look at each of these outfits, which are backed by Pakistan's security establishment.
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
Founded in 1989, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen started operating in PoK's Muzaffarabad with the aim of integrating Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan. As a militant wing of Pakistan's Islamist organisation Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Hizb was set up at the behest of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani spy agency. The group has a cadre strength of over 1,500, and its chief is Mohammed Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin. It operates in five divisions, targeting Srinagar, Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama, Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur. While its headquarters are in PoK, Hizbul has units in both Islamabad and Rawalpindi to communicate with the military and the government.
Born at the peak of insurgency in Kashmir, Hizb saw an internal tussle over ideology, leading to a split with Salahuddin heading one faction and Hilal Ahmed Mir the other. In 1993, India's counter-terrorist attacks peaked, wiping out several top leaders, including Mir. Through the years, Hizb has clashed with Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) — another ISI-funded group, which advocates for Kashmir's independence.
In July 2000, Salahuddin made a conditional offer of ceasefire to India, in a press conference in Islamabad, leading to a meeting between the group's chief commander Abdul Majeed Dar and a high-level Indian official team at Srinagar. However, facing pressure from other terrorist outfits in Pakistan, Salahuddin retracted his offer within days after the meeting. Dar, who played a significant role in the indoctrination, recruitment, launching and training of cadres, was killed in 2003 by unknown gunmen in Sopore. The attack was reportedly carried out by a splinter group of Hizb, after he had fallen out of favour with Salahuddin.
Through the years, the group has been responsible for numerous attacks on elected leaders in J&K, grenade attacks on J&K police stations, bomb attacks on military personnel and the Delhi High Court blast of 2011. Top leaders such as Ahsan Dar, Ashraf Dar, Maqbool Alla, Burhan Wani, Riyaz Naikoo, Sabzar Bhat have been killed by Indian security forces. It was designated a terrorist organisation by the U.S. in 2017.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Called the 'Army of the pure', Lashkar-e-Taiba was founded in Afghanistan's Kunwar province in 1990. Its active presence was first established in 1993 when its cadres infiltrated across the LoC. Funded by Pakistan's Islamist organisation Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad, LeT challenges India's sovereignty over Kashmir, and believes in uniting all Muslim majority regions in Asia and imposing Islamic rule in India. Its chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, set up its headquarters in Muridke and is currently imprisoned in Pakistan's Central Lahore Jail for 'terror financing'. Apart from Muridke, LeT has bases in Muzaffarabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Multan, Quetta, Gujranwala, Sialkot, and operates several Islamic institutions, schools, clinics and seminaries across Pakistan.
With India, the U.S. and Israel as its prime targets, LeT has recruited cadres from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Bahrain, Turkiye and Libya. It has an active presence is in Jammu and Kashmir, Chechnya and other parts of Central Asia, with over 700 cadres in J&K itself. Networking with several other terror outfits like al-Qaeda, LeT has been responsible for some of India's deadliest terror attacks such as the Mumbai train attacks (2006), 26/11 attack (2008), Akshardham temple attack (2002), serial blasts in Varanasi, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai and several suicide attacks on security bases. Post-1999, LeT implemented the 'Fiyadeen' attacks in which small units stormed security forces' bases. There were instances of LeT members, disguised as security personnel, rounding up non-Muslim civilians in J&K and killing them.
Under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Pakistan government 'arrested' Hafiz Saeed in 2019, and he was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment for 'terror financing'. LeT has been outlawed in India and designated as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. In 2002, under international pressure, the Pakistani government banned the group.
One of its bases, Markaz Taiba in Muridke, which trained terrorists like Ajmal Kasab and David Headley for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was hit by India during Operation Sindoor.
Jaish-e-Mohammad
The hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in Kandahar by Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) in 1999 facilitated the release of HuM's secretary general Maulana Masood Azhar. Upon his release, he launched Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) at a stadium in Bahawalpur in March 2000, after being designated as a global terrorist by the U.S.
JeM's objectives include withdrawal of Indian security forces from J&K and the 'liberation' of Kashmir. It also wishes to take control of Amritsar, New Delhi and Babri Masjid in Ayodhya — where now a Ram temple stands. With funding from the ISI and foreign countries, JeM has been responsible for terror attacks in India such as the 2001 Parliament attack, 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, and the 2019 Pulwama attack.
Active across J&K districts, JeM chief Masood Azhar was arrested after the 2001 Parliament attack but released on orders of a three-member Review Board of Lahore High Court in 2002. Since then, Pakistan has maintained it does not know his whereabouts, but Azhar has reportedly remained in Bahawalpur, as indicated by a speech given in December 2024.
On May 7, Indian strikes destroyed Markaz Subhanallah, which served as JeM's headquarters in Bahawalpur, and killed several of Azhar's family members, who are part of JeM.