Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; Urdu: لشکر جھنگوی) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi supremacist, terrorist[8] and Jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan.[9] The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan[10][9] and is an offshoot of anti-Shia party Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). The LeJ was founded by former SSP activists Riaz Basra, Malik Ishaq, Akram Lahori, and Ghulam Rasool Shah.[11]

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
لشکر جھنگوی
FoundersRiaz Basra †
Malik Ishaq †
Akram Lahori †
Ghulam Rasool Shah †
LeaderRiaz Basra †
Malik Ishaq †
Akram Lahori †
Ghulam Rasool Shah †
Asif Chotu †[1]
Qari Mohammad Yasin †[2]
Dates of operation1996–present
Split fromSipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
MotivesExtermination of the Shia community in Pakistan
HeadquartersAfghanistan[3][4]
Active regionsPakistan
Afghanistan
IdeologyIslamism
Sunni Muslim supremacism
Deobandi fundamentalism[5]
Takfirism[6][7]
Anti-Shi'ism
Notable attacks
StatusActive. Designated as a terrorist organization by

The LeJ has claimed responsibility for various mass casualty attacks against the Shia community in Pakistan,[12] including multiple bombings that killed over 200 Hazara Shias in Quetta in 2013. It has also been linked to the Mominpura Graveyard attack in 1998, the abduction of Daniel Pearl in 2002, and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009.[13][14] A predominantly Punjabi group,[15] the LeJ has been labelled by Pakistani intelligence officials as one of the country's most virulent terrorist organisations.[16]

Basra, the first Emir of LeJ, was killed in a police encounter in 2002. He was succeeded by Malik Ishaq, who was also killed, along with Ghulam Rasool Shah, in an encounter in Muzaffargarh in 2015.[17] LeJ was banned by Pakistan in August 2001.[18] The LeJ remains active, and has been designated as a terrorist organization by Australia,[19] Canada,[20] Pakistan,[21] United Kingdom,[22] United States[23] and the United Nations.[24]

Formation

Basra, along with Akram Lahori and Malik Ishaq, separated from Sipah-e-Sahaba and formed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 1996. ("Almost the entire leadership" of the group, is made up of "people who fought in Afghanistan".)[25] The newly formed group took its name from Sunni cleric Haq Nawaz Jhangvi who led anti-Shia violence in the 1980s, one of the founders of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan(SSP).[11] LJ's founders believed that the SSP had strayed from Jhangvi's ideals.[12][26] Jhangvi was killed in an attack by Shia militants in 1990. Malik Ishaq, the operational chief of LJ, was released after 14 years by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 14 July 2011, after the Court dropped 34 of the 44 charges against him, involving the killing of around 100 people, and granted him bail in the remaining 10 cases due to lack of evidence.[27][28][29][30] In 2013, Ishaq was arrested at his home in Rahim Yar Khan of the Punjab province.[31]

Activities

LJ initially directed most of its attacks against the Pakistani Shia Muslim community. It also claimed responsibility for the 1997 killing of four U.S. oil workers in Karachi. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi attempted to assassinate Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.[32] Basra himself was killed in 2002 when an attack he was leading on a Shia settlement near Multan failed. Basra was killed due to the cross-fire between his group and police assisted by armed local Shia residents.

  • In April 1999 the nephew of the then worldwide Khalifa, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was assassinated. Some have since alleged the attack was carried about by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.[33]
  • In March 2002 LJ members bombed a bus, killing 15 people, including 11 French citizens.[34]
  • On 17 March 2002 at 11:00 am, two members of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi bombed the International Protestant Church in Islamabad during a church service. Five people were killed, including two American women, two Pakistanis and an Afghan man. Forty-one more people were injured, including 27 foreigners. In July 2002 Pakistani police killed one of the alleged perpetrators and arrested four Lashkar-e-Jhangvi members in connection with the church attack. The LJ members confessed to the killings and said the attack was in retaliation for the U.S. attack on Afghanistan.
  • The Pakistani government Interior Ministry said that the suicide bomber involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,[35] along with the death of 20 others in Rawalpindi, belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on 27 December 2007.[35]
  • Authorities believe Mohammed Aqeel, an LJ member, was the mastermind behind the March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team.[36]
  • Claimed responsibility for 2011 Hazara Town shooting in Pakistan killing 8 people.
  • LJ claimed responsibility for killing 26 Shia pilgrims on 20 September 2011 in the Mastung area of Balochistan. The pilgrims were travelling on a bus to Iran.[37][38] In addition, 2 others were killed in a follow-up attack on a car on its way to rescue the survivors of the bus attack.
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai blamed LJ for a bombing that killed 59 people at Abu Fazal shrine in the Murad Khane district of Kabul on 6 December 2011. Most of the dead were pilgrims marking Ashoura, the holiest day in the Shia calendar.[39][40]
  • Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for 13 lives lost in brutal attack on Shia pilgrims.[41] in Quetta on 28 June: At least 13 people, two women and a policeman among them, were killed and over 20 others injured on Thursday in a bomb attack on a bus mainly carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran. Most of the pilgrims belonged to the Hazara community.
  • Claimed responsibility for January 2013 Pakistan bombings in Pakistan killing 125 people.[42]
  • Claimed responsibility for February 2013 Quetta bombings in Pakistan killing 81 and wounding 178, mostly Shia people.[43]
  • Claimed responsibility for June 15th 2013 Quetta bombings in Pakistan.[44]
  • Claimed responsibility for the January 2014 attempted bombing of a school which killed one of its students, Aitzaz Hasan in Pakistan.[45]
  • Claimed responsibility for January 2014 bombing in Mastung Balochistan killing 28 Zaireen/ Hazara Community.[46][47]
  • Claimed responsibility of assassination of Pakistani politician Shuja Khanzada in August 2015.[48]
  • Claimed responsibility for attack on Police training center Quetta Pakistan in October 2016 killing at least 61 people including cadets and army officers.

Headquarters

Officials from Zabul province claim that Lashkar-e Jhangvi has a sanctuary in southern Afghanistan.[3] Early on in 2016, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Yousuf Mansoor Khurasani survived an insider attack in southern Afghanistan.[4]

Affiliations

LJ has ties to the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), Ahle Sunnat Waljamaat (ASWJ), Al-Qaeda and Jundallah.[49] Investigation found that Al Qaeda has been involved with training of LJ.

Upon the death of Riaz Basra in May 2002, correspondence between al-Qaeda and LJ seems to have stopped.[12]

Designation as a terrorist organization

The Government of Pakistan designated the LJ a terrorist organization in August 2001, and the U.S. classified it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law in January 2003.[23] As a result, its finances are blocked worldwide by the U.S government.

See also

References
  1. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's chief Asif Chotu killed along with 3 associates in Pakistan". The Indian Express. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  2. "TTP-JA confirms key Pakistani terrorist killed in US drone strike - The Express Tribune". 22 March 2017.
  3. "Pakistani Extremists Carve A Sanctuary In Southern Afghanistan". RFERL. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  4. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami group chief survives insider attack in Afghanistan". Khaama Press. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
  5. "Profile: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi". BBC News. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  6. Abou-Zahab, Mariam (2004). "The Sunni-Shia Conflict in Jhang (Pakistan)". In Ahmad, Imtiaz; Reifeld, Helmut (eds.). Lived Islam in South Asia: Adaptation, Accommodation & Conflict. Jor Bagh, New Delhi: Social Science Press. ISBN 8187358157.
  7. Murphy, Eamon (2013). The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan: Historical and Social Roots of Extremism. Routledge. pp. 129, 131. ISBN 9780415565264.
  8. "State designates leader of Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi as global terrorist". The Long War Journal. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  9. "Pakistani Extremists Carve A Sanctuary In Southern Afghanistan". Gandhara Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 23 January 2017.
  10. "Is Lashker-e-Jhangvi Taking Advantage of Pakistan and Afghanistan's Bilateral Tensions?". The Diplomat. 27 January 2017.
  11. Farooqi, Asif (11 January 2013). "Profile: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi - BBC News". BBC News. Bbc.com. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  12. Roul, Animesh (2 June 2005). "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi: Sectarian Violence in Pakistan and Ties to International Terrorism". Terrorism Monitor. Jamestown Foundation. 3 (11). Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  13. "Pakistani Shi'ites call off protests after Quetta bombing arrests". Reuters. 19 February 2013.
  14. Notezai, Muhammad Akbar (11 August 2015). "Malik Ishaq and Pakistan's Sectarian Violence". The Diplomat. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  15. "Pakistan Shias killed in Gilgit sectarian attack". BBC News. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012. A predominantly Punjabi group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is linked with the 2002 murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl and other militant attacks, particularly in the southern city of Karachi.
  16. "Iran condemns terrorist attacks in Pakistan". Tehran Times. 17 February 2013. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  17. Ahmad, Tufail (21 March 2012). "Using Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Other Internet Tools, Pakistani Terrorist Group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Incites Violence against Shi'ite Muslims and Engenders Antisemitism". The Middle East Media Research Insititue, memri.org. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  18. "List of banned organisations in Pakistan". 24 October 2012.
  19. Department, Attorney-General’s. "Lashkar-e Jhangvi". www.nationalsecurity.gov.au. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  20. "About the listing process". www.publicsafety.gc.ca. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  21. "Proscribed Organizations – NACTA – National Counter Terrorism Authority NACTA Pakistan". Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  22. "Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  23. "Pakistani group joins US terror list". BBC News South Asia. 30 January 2003. Retrieved 30 January 2003.
  24. "LASHKAR I JHANGVI (LJ) | United Nations Security Council Subsidiary Organs". 18 October 2016. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  25. "Pakistan: Backgrounder". South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP). Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  26. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi". South Asia Terrorism Portal. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  27. Mir, Amir (4 October 2011). "Kidnappers of Taseer's son want release of Qadri". The News International. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  28. Mukhtar, Imran (6 October 2011). "LeJ leader's entry in Islamabad banned". The Nation. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  29. "Attack on Lankans: SC moved against Ishaq's release". The Express Tribune. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  30. "Detention of Malik Ishaq, Shah extended for 2 months". The Nation (Pakistan). 26 October 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  31. "Leader of Militant Group Arrested in Pakistan, Police Say". CNN. 23 February 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  32. Rory McCarthy Death by design The Guardian (UK). Friday 17 May 2002.
  33. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi: Pakistan's terror problem- New Religion". Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  34. United Nations Web Services Section. "The Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  35. "Pakistan: Fractured skull killed Bhutto". CNN. 28 December 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  36. "Pakistan Faces New Wave of Attacks". Wall Street Journal. 15 October 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2013. In March, gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team during its visit to Lahore, killing six police officers. That attack, officials say, was masterminded by Mohammed Aqeel, also known as Dr. Usman, a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned Punjabi militant outfit with strong links to the main Pakistan Taliban faction and al Qaeda. Mr. Aqeel also led the attack on the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, officials say, and was captured in the attack.
  37. "Gunmen attack bus in Balochistan, 26 killed". The Express Tribune. 20 September 2011.
  38. "28 Shia Muslims shot dead by Lashkar militants in Pakistan". Daily News & Analysis. 20 September 2011.
  39. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi: inciting sectarianism in Afghanistan?". Dawn.com. Dawn Media Group. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  40. Ahmad, Sardar (7 December 2011). "Karzai blames Pakistanis over sectarian massacre". Google News. AFP. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  41. Saleem Shahid (28 June 2012). "Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claims responsibility: 13 lives lost in brutal attack on Shia pilgrims". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  42. "The Wall Street Journal - Breaking News, Business, Financial & Economic News, World News and Video". The Wall Street Journal.
  43. "Pakistan blast: Governor fury at 'intelligence failure'". BBC News. 17 February 2013.
  44. "Pakistan violence: Gunmen storm Quetta hospital". BBC News. 15 June 2013.
  45. "Pakistan teen dies stopping suicide bomber". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  46. "Mastung attack claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi - AAJ News". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  47. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claims Mastung suicide attack". The International News. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  48. "Pakistan minister Shuja Khanzada killed in suicide attack". The Indian Express. 16 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  49. 18 Shias Killed in Pak Bus Massacre Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine PTI | Rezaul H Laskar | Islamabad | 28 February 2012

Further reading

An early version of this article was adapted from the public domain U.S. federal government sources.

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