Why Muridke was hit; its link with Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar

India Today

07-05-2025

The Indian armed forces struck nine terror bases in Pakistan and its occupied territory of Kashmir in overnight operations. Pakistan's DG ISPR acknowledged strikes on five sites in Kotli, Muridke and Bahawalpur.
The main targets of the strikes, called Operation Sindoor, were the jihadist structures of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba, the two terrorist organisations responsible for major attacks on Indian soil over the past three decades. WHY MURIDKE?
Located about 33 km from Lahore on the historic Grand Trunk Road, Muridke hosts the headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Called the Markaz-e-Toiba, the LeT headquarter operates under the facade of a charitable organisation, Jammat-ud_Dawa.
The Markaz complex, like the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in Bahawalpur, is the nerve centre of the LeT, operating as its ideological, logistical, and operational base. Hundreds of volunteers recruited from Pakistan and Kashmir are brought here for training and planning terrorist operations.
It is said to be spread over 200 acres of land, making it one of the largest terror facilities in not just Pakistan but across the world.
It was established in the late 1980s by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of LeT, with support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and funding from external sources.
An Integrated Township: Satellite images reveal the Markaz is a township with modern facilities. Its centre piece is a mosque, surrounded by teaching centres. Large open areas are used for training recruits in combat in simulated environments. For the recruits, apart from schools, seminaries and living quarters, there are facilities like hospitals, offices, banks and other commercial units.
Strategic Importance: Since it sits on a major highway, and is just a few kms from Lahore, the Markaz can deploy its assets at a rapid pace at a short notice. The Markaz was originally set up to support the Afghan jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s. But, after the Soviets retreated, it was turned into a base for anti-India operations. When the LeT was banned by Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks, the Markaz was redesignated as a seminary–the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. But, behind the scenes it continued to serve the goals and ambitions of the Lashkar.
In 2008, Lashkar trained several terrorists at the Markaz for the Mumbai attacks, which led to 166 deaths. This was disclosed by Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker of the attacks, to the Indian investigating agencies.
Since its early days, the LeT has expanded its presence. It has used the Markaz to collaborate with other jihadist groups in Afghanistan and even Chechnya. It is funded through a chain of global networks. The money flows into Pakistan under the pretext of supporting charity and education.
In 2008, the Jamaat was declared a terror organisation. It was also placed on the FATF grey list for financing terror operations. Though Pakistan banned the JuD and arrested Saeed, India has called these actions mere optics to deflect international attention.
The JuD, a proselytising force, spreads its radical agenda through a network that includes more than 2500 offices and a dozen seminaries.
The LeT—'army of the pure'--- is a Salafist-jihadist organisation. (Its rival, the Jaish-e-Mohammad is inspired by the Deobandi ideology). Unlike some other organisations that focused on Kashmir's independence, its aim is the annexation of J&K to Pakistan.
The LeT was co-founded by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zafar Iqbal, and Abdullah Azzam to resist the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Its parent, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI), was a Sunni missionary organization established in 1987 to promote Salafism, the most orthodox form of Islam.
The LeT's birthplace was Afghanistan's Kunar province, where it originated around 1990 with funding from al-Qaeda.
LeT and Kashmir: The terror group brought fidayeen attacks to Jammu and Kashmir with its policy of fighting till death. (The Jaish, on the other hand, relied on suicide bombings). In 1993, the LeT terrorists started crossing into India with the support of the ISI and separatist groups in the Valley. Among its early attacks was the 1996 killing of 16 Hindus. MAJOT ATTACKS December 2001: Attack on the Indian Parliament with the help of Jaish-e-Mohammad. Attack: The terrorists entered the premises with the intention of killing India's top leadership. But the attack was foiled by security personnel. The attack led to a military standoff between India and Pakistan that brought the two countries to the brink of a war.
2006 Mumbai Train Bombings: The LeT detonated several bombs on Mumbai's commuter trains, killing over 180 and injuring around 800.
2008 Mumbai Attacks: Ten LeT gunmen attacked multiple locations in Mumbai over three days, killing 166 people.
The group has been linked to the 2000 Chittisinghpura massacre of 35 Sikhs in Kashmir on the eve of US President Bill Clinton's visit to India. ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
The group calls itself a military organisation with Hafiz Saeed its top leader–the emir. Saeed is helped by terrorists who are designated as commanders and regional commanders. Apart from its training camps in Muridke, it operates from several bases in Pak-occupied Kashmir.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed: Born in 1950 in Sargodha, Pakistan, Saeed was declared a global terrorist by several countries and organisations. In 1947, his family had reportedly migrated from northern Punjab, probably some village near Shimla.
A scholar of the Salafist ideology, he went to a university in Saudi Arabia, where he was exposed to the Wahabi strain of Islam. Back in Pakistan in the 70s, he taught Islamic ideology at an engineering institute in Lahore. In 1994, Saeed visited the US, where he addressed gatherings in Houston, Chicago, and Boston.
Starting with 2001-2002 (after the attack on the Indian Parliament), Saeed has been in and out of Pakistani jails. In 2012, the US placed a $10 million bounty on Saeed. In 2020, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail for financing terror activities. Though he was supposed to be jailed, reports suggest Saeed has been living in Lahore in a house protected by the ISI. The house has a mosque, a school and even a private park. India's request for his extradition was denied by Pakistan in 2023.
Like the JEM, the Lashkar is also a family-run enterprise. Saeed's son Talha is the group's second-in-command.