According to the latest Congressional report on terrorism, Pakistan is home to at least 12 terrorist groups, including five that are centered in India, such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in the report that Pakistan has been recognized as a base of operations or target for many armed and nonstate militant groups.
A report entitled ‘Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan’, released by the bipartisan research arm of US Congress on the eve of the historic Quad Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden at the White House last week, categorized these groups into five categories – globally oriented, Afghanistan-oriented, India- and Kashmir-oriented, domestically oriented, and Sectarian (anti-Shia). Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) was created in Pakistan in the 1980s and was designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2001. CRS reports that ‘LET was responsible for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, as well as numerous other high-profile attacks’. Founded in 2000 by Kashmiri militant leader Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) is a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Among other attacks, it said LET was responsible for the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament. It also noted that JEM has openly declared war on the United States. As a FTO in 2010, Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) has been designated as a group fighting the Soviet army since 1980. However, it did supply fighters to the Afghan Taliban after 1989. HUJI today operates in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, and seeks the annexation of Kashmir into Pakistan, says the report, adding that HUM was designated as an FTO in 1997 and operates mainly from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and some Pakistani cities. In addition, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HM) was formed in 1989 as a militant wing of Pakistan’s largest Islamist party and designated as an FTO in 2017. It is one of the oldest and largest militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
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CRS reported that Al Qaeda is another terrorist group operating from Pakistan, adding that it has been active primarily from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas and from Karachi as well as Afghanistan. It has been led by Ayman al-Zawahiri since 2011, and reportedly maintains supportive ties with a number of groups inside the country. According to the Country Reports on Terrorism 2019, Pakistan has been serving as a safe haven for terrorist groups operating in the region, and has allowed groups targeting Afghanistan and India to operate from its territory. Islamabad has long been accused by Pakistan’s neighbors, including Afghanistan and India, and by the United States of providing safe haven to militants.
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