Pakistan: Who are the Let and Jem groups, targets of India attacks?

India said on Wednesday (7) that they hit nine places in Pakistan “where terrorist attacks against India were planned and directed” after the deadly attack in Caxemira last month.

Neighboring nations, owners of nuclear weapons, crashed two wars since the independence of the United Kingdom, colonial ruler, in 1947, by the predominantly Muslim region, which both govern in part, but claim fully.

Nova Déli attributed last month’s attack on a Himalayan meadow to a group linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan-based Islamic militant group.

Pakistan, which denies any involvement in the attack on Caxemira, said the Indian attacks killed 26 civilians and that their forces slaughtered five Indian fighters.

The country promised to answer “to this aggression at the moment, place and means of our choice.”

India has stated that seven of its targets were used by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, both Islamic groups designated as “terrorist” organizations by the United Nations Security Council (UN).

For decades, Hindu’s majority accused Pakistan of supporting Islamic militants in attacks against Indian interests, especially in Caxemira.

Pakistan denies such a support and, in turn, accuses India of supporting separatist rebels in Pakistan, which New Deli denies.

LASHKAR-E-TAIBA

Lashkar-e-taiba (let), or “pure army”, is based in the most populous province of Pakistan, Punjab, and has long focused on combating Indian dominion in Caxemira.

The UN Security Council states that it has carried out “numerous terrorist operations” against military and civilian targets since 1993, including November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, commercial capital of India, which killed 166 people.

Hafiz Saeed, who founded the Let around 1990, denied any participation in the attack.

The United Nations claim that the Let was also involved in attacks on Mumbai passenger trains in July 2006 and an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.

Muridke is believed to be on the outskirts of Lahore, the capital of Punjab, to be home to the extensive headquarters of 81 hectares of organizations affiliated with the Let.

India says it attacked Muridke’s Markaz Taiba, a place about 25 km from the border, where Mumbai’s attackers had been trained. The term Markaz means headquarters.

Pakistan states that the group was banned and neutralized. Arrested in 2019, Saeed was convicted of numerous accusations of terrorism financing and is serving a 31 -year prison sentence.

Critics say the group, renamed under the disguise of a charity, maintains a strong network in the region.

Jaish-e-mohammad

Also headquartered in Punjab is the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), or army of the Prophet Muhammad, founded by Masood Azhar after his release from prison in India in 1999.

The agreement was an exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight kidnapped to the city of Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, according to the UN Security Council.

Pakistan banned the group in 2002 after he, along with the Let, was held responsible for the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

The group had calls with al-Qaeda, founded by Osama Bin Laden, and Taliban, according to the UN Security Council.

JEM is believed to be headquartered in Bahawalpur Central City, also in Punjab, Pakistan.

The group has taken responsibility for numerous suicide attacks on Caxemira, where India has been fighting armed insurgency since the late 1980s, although violence has diminished in recent years.

India claimed to have attacked Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, who called Jem’s thirst, about 100 km from the border.

Despite JEM’s ban on Pakistan in 2002, US and Indian authorities say it still operates openly on the site.

Azhar disappeared from the public eyes, except for sporadic reports of his presence near the city, where he manages a religious institution.

This content was originally published in Pakistan: Who are the LET and JEM groups, targets of India attacks? on the CNN Brazil website.

Source: CNN Brasil