Lashkar-e-Taiba
By: Rehan Mushtaq
Tags: International Security, International Relations, Mumbai Attacks, Lashkar E Taiba, India Pakistan Conflict

Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of the largest Islamist militant organizations in Pakistan. It was founded in 1987 by Hafiz Saeed, Abdullah Azzam and Zafar Iqbal with funding from Osama bin Laden.

In 1985 Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and Zafar Iqbal formed the Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a small missionary group dedicated to promoting an Ahl-e-Hadith version of Islam. The MDI had 17 founders originally, and notable among them was Abdullah Azzam. The LeT was formed in Afghanistan’s Kunar province in 1990 and gained prominence in the early 1990s as a military offshoot of MDI. According to Hafiz Saeed, “Islam propounds both dawa 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.”

Lashkar-e-Taiba made its first incursions into Jammu and Kashmir in 1993. In the late 1990s it was alleged that Lashkar-e-Taiba received funding from agencies of the Pakistani government, an allegation the government denied. The group began operating in the Jammu region, which had large numbers of non-Muslims. Working in conjunction with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba began a program of attacks against Hindus and Sikhs.

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. Lashkar-e-Taiba was banned in Pakistan on 12 January 2002. It is banned in India as a designated terrorist group under the Unlawful Activities Act.

Several people trained in Lashkar-e-Taiba camps were arrested or linked to terrorist attacks in Great Britain. David Headley, an American of Pakistani extraction, was arrested by U.S. authorities in October 2009 on charges that he had helped Lashkar-e-Taiba plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He pleaded guilty to a number of charges and in January 2013 was sentenced to 35 years in U.S. federal prison. In September 2015 a Mumbai court convicted 12 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba on charges connected with the 2006 train bombings. The charges included criminal conspiracy and membership in a terrorist group; 5 of the 12 were also convicted of murder. In 2019 a suicide bombing by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Jammu and Kashmir mounted international pressure on Pakistan to crack down on militants operating illegally within its borders. Saeed was arrested and charged later that year with involvement with a proscribed organization. He was sentenced to more than five years in prison in 2020 but planned to appeal his conviction.

Mumbai Attack 2008

Jamaat-ud-Dawa members on 7 August 2017 announced the creation of a political party called Milli Muslim League. Tabish Qayoum, a JuD activist working as the party spokesman, stated they had filed registration papers for a new party with Pakistan’s electoral commission. In February 2019, after the Pulwama attack, the Pakistan government placed the ban once again on Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity organization Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. The group conducts training camps and humanitarian work. Across Pakistan, the organization runs 16 Islamic institutions, 135 secondary schools, an ambulance service, mobile clinics, blood banks and seminaries according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal. The group actively carried out attacks on Indian Armed Forces in Jammu and Kashmir.