The Pakistani terror trio
• Pakistani military officials, including Abdur Rauf, led prayers for the victims of Indian attacks on May 7.
• Five high-profile terrorists were killed during ‘Operation Sindoor’, which targeted nine terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), LeT, and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan.
• The group has been responsible for attacks across India for over three decades, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attack, and the recent Pahalgam massacre.
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
• Founded in 1989, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen aims to integrate Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan.
• The group has a cadre strength of over 1,500 and operates in five divisions, targeting Srinagar, Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama, Doda, Rajouri, Poonch, and Udhampur.
• The group has been responsible for numerous attacks on elected leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, grenade attacks on J&K police stations, bomb attacks on military personnel, and the Delhi High Court blast of 2011.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
• Founded in Afghanistan’s Kunwar province in 1990, Lashkar-e-Taiba challenges India’s sovereignty over Kashmir and believes in uniting all Muslim majority regions in Asia and imposing Islamic rule in India.
• The group has recruited cadres from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Bahrain, Turkiye and Libya, and has an active presence in Jammu and Kashmir, Chechnya, and other parts of Central Asia.
• Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the chief, was imprisoned in Pakistan’s Central Lahore Jail for ‘terror financing’.
Jaish-e-Mohammad
• The hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in Kandahar by Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) in 1999 facilitated the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, who launched Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) at a stadium in Bahawalpur in March 2000.
• JeM’s objectives include withdrawal of Indian security forces from J&K and the “liberation” of Kashmir.
• The group has been responsible for terror attacks in India such as the 2001 Parliament attack, 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, and the 2019 Pulwama attack.