Pakistan is home to at least 12 groups designated as ‘foreign terrorist organisations’, including five of them being India-centric like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, according to the latest Congressional report on terrorism. A report published by the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) said that US officials have identified Pakistan as a base of operations or target for numerous armed and non state militant groups, some of which have existed since the 1980s.
The report released by the bipartisan research wing of US Congress on the eve of the historic Quad summit last week, said these groups operating in Pakistan can be broadly categorised into five types — globally-oriented, Afghanistan oriented, India- and Kashmir-oriented, domestically oriented, and Sectarian (anti-Shia). Other terrorist groups within 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), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Jundallah (also known as Jaysh al-Adl), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Lashkar -e-Jhangvi (LEJ).The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) was formed in the late 1980s in Pakistan and designated as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) in 2001. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) was founded in 2000 by Kashmiri militant leader Masood Azhar and was designated as an FTO in 2001. Along with LET, it was responsible for the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, among other attacks, the report said. It is also responsible for 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as numerous other high-profile attacks.
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, although it did supply fighters to the Afghan Taliban. CRS reports are not an official report of the United States Congress. Independent experts prepare these reports at regular intervals so that US lawmakers can make informed decisions.
