Washington:
Pakistan is home to at least 12 groups designated as ‘foreign terrorist organisations’ by the US, like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), according to the most recent Congressional report on terrorism.
US officials have identified Pakistan as a base of operations or target for a lot of armed and non-state terrorist groups, some of which have existed given that the 1980s, the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) mentioned in the report.
The report, ‘Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan’, released by the bipartisan investigation wing of US Congress on the eve of the historic Quad summit hosted by US President Joe Biden at the White House last week, mentioned that these groups operating in Pakistan can be broadly categorised into 5 sorts — globally-oriented, Afghanistan oriented, India- and Kashmir-oriented, domestically oriented, and Sectarian (anti-Shia).
The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) was formed in the late 1980s in Pakistan and designated as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) in 2001.
“LET was responsible for major 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as numerous other high-profile attacks,” the CRS mentioned.
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) was founded in 2000 by Kashmiri terrorist leader Masood Azhar and was designated as an FTO in 2001. Along with LET, it was accountable for the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, amongst other attacks, it mentioned.
JEM also has openly declared war on the United States, it noted.
Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) was formed in 1980 in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet army and was designated as an FTO in 2010. After 1989, it redirected its efforts toward India, while it did provide fighters to the Afghan Taliban.
“With an unknown strength, HUJI today operates in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, and seeks annexation of Kashmir into Pakistan,” the report mentioned, adding that HUM was designated as an FTO in 1997 and operates primarily from Pak-Occupied Kashmir and from some Pakistani cities.
Finally, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HM) was formed in 1989— reportedly as the terrorist wing of Pakistan’s biggest Islamist political party—and designated as an FTO in 2017. It is one of the biggest and oldest terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
Among other terrorist groups operating from Pakistan are Al Qaeda, CRS mentioned, adding that it has operated mostly from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas and in the megacity of Karachi, as properly as in Afghanistan. It has given that 2011 been led by Ayman al-Zawahiri and reportedly maintains supportive ties with lots of of the groups inside the nation.
CRS mentioned according to the US State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2019, Pakistan has “continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups,” and has “allowed groups targeting Afghanistan … as well as groups targeting India …to operate from its territory”.
Pakistan’s neighbours, like Afghanistan and India, and the US have lengthy accused Islamabad of delivering protected haven and help to terrorists.
The US State Department also noted “modest steps” taken by Pakistan’s government to counter terrorism financing and to “restrain” some India-focused terrorist groups following an early 2019 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
It assessed, having said that, that “Islamabad has yet to take decisive actions against India- and Afghanistan-focused terrorists,” and that “progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to counter terrorism remains unfulfilled—specifically its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organisations without delay and discrimination”.
On the subject of “terrorist safe havens,” the Department concluded that Pakistan’s government and military “acted inconsistently with respect to terrorist safe havens throughout the country. Authorities did not take sufficient action to stop certain terrorist groups and individuals from openly operating in the country”.
Other terrorist groups inside Pakistan are Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent(AQIS), Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP or IS-K) the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Jundallah (aka Jaysh al-Adl), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ).