Latest news with #AbdurRauf
The Hindu
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, LeT and JeM
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.
New Indian Express
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
International community should urge Pakistan to take 'off-ramp' to de-escalate: India's envoy to UK
India's response to Pakistan's original conflict escalation with the terrorist attacks in Pahalgam last month was "precise, targeted" and focussed solely on terror infrastructure but Pakistan has chosen to continue to escalate the matter instead of taking an "off-ramp" to end the crisis, the Indian High Commissioner to the UK has said. Vikram Doraiswami was interviewed by a series of UK media outlets on Thursday to present India's stance on the rising tensions between India and Pakistan. He told 'Sky News' that the international community can intervene by pointing out the opportunity for an off-ramp to Pakistan. He also displayed an image live on air of US-designated terrorist Abdur Rauf leading prayers for the terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor, also presented during a briefing by Foreign Secretary Vikram Mistry in New Delhi. "Everybody knows that for the last 30 years, Pakistan has used this (terrorism) as a means of sub-critical warfare against India," the envoy said.
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
‘State funeral for terrorists in Pakistan': Foreign Secy slams Pakistan's links to TRF, LeT, and JeM leaders
Pakistan's links to a number of UN-designated terror groups have been exposed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, officials said on Thursday (May 8, 2025). This not only includes The Resistance Front (TRF) that claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, but also the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Falah-i-Insaniyat-Foundation (FIF), whose leader Hafiz Abdur Rauf led prayers for the dead in Muridke, as well as Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), whose leader Masood Azhar reportedly lost several members of his family in the Indian Air Force strikes, including his brother and JeM commander Abdul Rauf Azhar. Draped in Pakistan flag At a press conference in Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri showed a photograph of Abdur Rauf, a U.S. designated terrorist, leading prayers for those killed in the strikes on the LeT's headquarters in Muridke, about an hour away from Lahore. Abdur Rauf, a local cleric who openly campaigns for Pakistan to annexe Kashmir, was seen in videos on Wednesday flanked by military officers, even as those killed inside the LeT/FIF complex were given 'state honours', draped in the Pakistan national flag, 'If only civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you,' Mr. Misri said, as the MEA released a photo from the funeral. 'As far as we are concerned, the individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving terrorists state funerals may be a practice in Pakistan. It doesn't seem to make much sense to us,' he added. Follow Operation Sindoor updates on May 8 Designated terrorists 'Hafiz' Abdur Rauf was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Treasury on November 24, 2010. The FIF, a fundraising offshoot of the LeT that claimed to be a charitable organisation, was banned by the U.S. Secretary of State on the same day, after detailed groundwork by India in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks that led to a number of terror listings. According to the U.S. Treasury website, Abdur Rauf worked directly under LeT chief and Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, and was its chief fundraiser and spokesperson. Hafiz Saeed is also on both the U.S. and UN lists of international terrorists. The ruling BJP announced that Abdul Rauf Azhar had been killed, amongst several family members, in the strikes on Bahawalpur, site of JeM headquarters. According to a note that could not be verified, Masood Azhar had named his sister and other relatives who died in the strikes, expressing sorrow over their deaths. Rauf Azhar, the operational commander of the JeM, was the mastermind of the IC-814 hijacking in 1999, that ended with the Indian government releasing Masood Azhar, along with terrorists Omar Sheikh Saeed (convicted for killing journalist Daniel Pearl), and Mushtaq Zargar in Kandahar in exchange for hostage passengers. Since then, the JeM leadership has been responsible for several attacks, including the Parliament attack in 2000, Pathankot airbase attack in 2016 and the 2019 Pulwama bombing. While the JeM and Masood Azhar have been designated terrorists by the UN Security Council, China blocked India's attempts to list Abdur Rauf in the 1,267-strong list for sanctioned terrorists. The U.S had also put him on its Special Designations list in December 2010, adding that he trained recruits for suicide bombings in India. Push for financial sanctions During his briefing, Mr. Misri said that Pakistan had itself exposed its links to the TRF, that had twice claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attacks where 26 men were killed, before backtracking from the claim. He said India has reported the TRF's activities to the UN 1267 Monitoring team on a number of occasions, adding that it was 'interesting' that Pakistan insisted on omitting TRF's name from the UNSC resolution passed on April 25. In the Pakistani parliament on April 29, the Pakistan Deputy PM and Foreign Minister had himself made the claim that he had 'watered down' the UNSC draft proposed by the U.S., deleting reference to the TRF, and changing the 'Government of India' to 'all relevant authorities' in Jammu Kashmir. India is expected to push for the UNSC to designate the TRF as a terrorist group. During an all-party meeting in Delhi on Thursday, Opposition members called for India to ask the U.S. to designate the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) as well as push to bring Pakistan back on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) grey-list for allowing designated terrorists to operate freely in the country despite sanctions against them.
