Ahrar ul Hind ( ur, احرار الہند; lit. ''freedom fighters of India'') was a militant Islamist group in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

that split from the

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bo ...

(TTP) in February 2014. During peace talks between the Pakistani government and TTP, Ahrar-ul-Hind issued a statement to the media rejecting the talks, and announcing that they would not accept any peace agreement. Following its initial announcement, the group claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Pakistan, including the Islamabad court attack, before merging into the

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (, "Assembly of the Free," abbreviated as JuA) was a terrorist organization that split away from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in August 2014. The group came to prominence after it claimed responsibility for the 2014 Wagah border suic ...

group in August 2014.

Etymology

The group's name literally means ''freedom fighters of India'' (referring to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

as a whole). According to a commander of a Taliban group, the group derived its name of "Ahrar" from

Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...

, because the Ahraris were against the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan; they, rather, believed that the entire subcontinent was their homeland. The commander said that the group planned to expand their operations to the remaining part of the subcontinent.

Split from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

The group mostly contained Taliban from

Mohmand Agency Mohmand District ( ps, مومندو ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtun ...

's Tribes, with some members from the

Punjabi Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...

based in southern Punjab. Many of its members are based in eastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. While the group claimed to have split from the TTP because of opposition to peace talks with the government and after advice from a certain Paracha saab (a patwari of note), some observers believed the group was used by the TTP to carry out deniable attacks without disrupting the cease fire talks.

Relations with TTP

The Pakistani government made disowning Ahrar-ul-Hind a condition of the TTP for peace talks to continue, while simultaneously carrying out airstrikes on Ahrar-ul-Hind bases. In response, the Taliban announced a ceasefire and accepted the condition of dealing with Ahrar-ul-Hind. After this announcement, the group claimed an attack on the Islamabad High Court in March 2014. In August 2014, Omar Khalid Khorasani merged Ahrar-ul-Hind with other dissident TTP commanders into a new group called

, formally splitting away from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in September 2014.

References

External links

{{War on Terrorism Taliban Islam-related controversies Islamist groups Islamism in Pakistan Jihadist groups affiliated to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Jihadist groups in Afghanistan Jihadist groups in Pakistan 2014 establishments in Pakistan

Etymology

Split from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

Relations with TTP

See also

References

External links