Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000." Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azhar, a graduate of Jamia Binouria who later set up a jihadist outfit named Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) in 2000, reportedly at the behest of Pakistan's military establishment."

Jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

militant group active in Kashmir which is widely considered as a terrorist group. The group's primary motive is to separate Kashmir from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and merge it into

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 ...

. Since its inception in 2000, the group has carried out several attacks in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It portrays Kashmir as a "gateway" to the entire India, whose Muslims are also deemed to be in need of liberation. After liberating Kashmir, it aims to carry its 'Jihad' to other parts of India, with an intent to drive

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s and other non-Muslims from the Indian subcontinent. It has carried out several attacks primarily in the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir. It also maintained close relations with the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and continues to be allied with these groups.: "In addition to guerilla activities in Kashmir, JeM kept close ties with the Taliban as well as al-Qaeda in Afghanistan." JeM was apparently created with the support of Pakistan's

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

(ISI),: "the ISI-supported, if not created, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terror organization." which uses it to fight in Kashmir and other places, and continues to provide it backing.: "His group is technically illegal in Pakistan but enjoys the continuing patronage of the ISI." The JeM has been banned in Pakistan since 2002, but resurfaced under other names.: "But the ban was only a formality; neither organization eT and JeMwas seriously disrupted or dismantled. Hardly touched by the crackdown, LeT was spared the most.": "Pakistani jails have revolving doors, and even high-profile detainees like JeM leader Maulana Masood Azhar and LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed were soon free men. Banned organizations resurfaced under new names or as charities...": "However, most of those arrested were subsequently released without any charges and the separatist/Islamic Jihadis groups, such as the ISI creations Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, have been permitted to re-form, some of them under different names." Its apparent variants openly continue to operate several facilities in the country. According to

B. Raman Bahukutumbi Raman (14 August 1936 – 16 June 2013), also referred to as B. Raman, was an Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India and head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research and Analysis Win ...

, Jaish-e-Mohammed is viewed as the "deadliest" and "the principal Islamic terrorist organisation in Jammu and Kashmir". The group was responsible for several terror attacks: the 2001 attack on Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, the 2016 attack on the Indian Mission in

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

, the

2016 Uri attack The 2016 Uri attack was carried out on 18 September by four Jaish-e-Mohammed insurgents from Pakistan against an Indian Army brigade headquarters near the town of Uri in the erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. 19 Indian soldiers w ...

, and the 2019 Pulwama attack, each of which has had strategic consequences for

India–Pakistan relations India–Pakistan relations are the bilateral ties between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The two countries have a complex and largely hostile relationship that is rooted in a multitude of historical and political e ...

Praveen Swami Praveen Swami (born 1969) is an Indian journalist and author specialising on international strategic and security issues. He is currently the Group Consulting Editor at Network18 Group. He was the Diplomatic Editor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' new ...

How significant is Jaish-e-Muhammad in Kashmir today?
The Indian Express, 10 November 2017. The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, Australia,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. In 2016, Jaish was suspected of being responsible for an attack on the Pathankot airbase in India. The Indian government, and some other sources, accused Pakistan of assisting Jaish in conducting the attack. Pakistan denied assisting Jaish, and arrested several members of Jaish in connection with the attack, who were then released by the security establishment according to a report in ''Dawn''. Pakistan called the report an "amalgamation of fiction and fabrication". In February 2019, the group took responsibility for a suicide bombing attack on a security convoy in the

Pulwama district The Pulwama district is located to the south of Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. Its district headquarters are situated in the city of Pulwama. It is located in the central part of the Kashmir Valley. Administration In 1979 Anantnag d ...

that killed 40 security personnel, named as one of the largest attacks in recent years.

Origins

Pakistan's

(ISI) is said to have created Jaish-e-Mohammed by working with several Deobandi Islamic jihadis associated with

Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Harkat-ul-Mujahideen- al-Islami ( ur, ; HUM) is a Pakistan-based Islamic jihad group operating primarily in Kashmir.C. Christine Fair
Bringing back the Dead: Why Pakistan Used the Jaishe-Mohammad to Attack an Indian Airbase
Huffington Post, 12 January 2016. By the late 1990s, states

Ahmed Rashid Ahmed Rashid (Urdu:; born 1948 in Pakistan) is a journalist and best-selling foreign policy author of several books about Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia. Life and career Ahmed Rashid was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He attended Malv ...

, the

Pakistani military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

justified '' jihad'' in Kashmir as a legitimate part of its foreign policy. Harkat had been set up in mid-1990s with ISI support to carry out "spectacular acts of terrorism". The United States declared it an Islamic jihadist group in 1998 and bombed its training camps in Afghanistan. In December 1999, Harkat Islamic jihadis hijacked the Indian Airlines Flight 814 scheduled to fly from

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, and diverted it to

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

, where they were looked after by the Afghan

and the Pakistani officials stationed at the airport. After they slit the throat of a passenger, the Indian government agreed to their demands and released

Maulana Masood Azhar Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi is a radical Islamist and terrorist, being the founder and leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, active mainly in the Pakistani-administered portion of the Kashmir region. His actions ...

, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, three Harkat operatives previously imprisoned in India. The released prisoners were escorted to Pakistan by the ISI, and Masood Azhar was chosen to head the new group Jaish-e-Mohammed. The ISI is said to have paraded him on a victory tour through Pakistan to raise money for the new organisation. Some analysts argue that ISI built up the JeM to counter the growing power of

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

(LeT). Many analysts believed that around 1999, Pakistan's

(ISI) used JeM to fight in Kashmir and other places, and continues to provide it backing. Although the JeM has been officially banned in Pakistan since 2002, it continues to openly operate several facilities in the country. Azhar's leadership is said to be nominal. The group has a largely decentralised structure. JeM's membership, drawn from the former members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, was allied to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda. The members had shared the Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and carried loyalty to Al Qaeda. A majority of the members of Harkat are said to have followed Azhar into the newly founded group, leaving Harkat under-funded and under-supported.

History

2000–2001

On 20 April 2000, JeM carried out the first suicide bombing in Kashmir, exploding a bomb in an Indian army barracks. Five Indian soldiers were killed. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in the United States, the Musharraf government joined the United States in the

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

, assuming that the move would give it a free hand in supporting militancy in Kashmir. In October 2001, JeM carried out a bombing near the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly, killing 38 people and claiming responsibility for it. In December 2001, JeM and LeT militants launched a ''

fidayeen Fedayeen ( ar, فِدائيّين ''fidāʼīyīn'' "self-sacrificers") is an Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign. Etymology The term ''fedayi'' is derived from Arabic: '' ...

'' attack on the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

waging a battle with the security personnel. Eight security personnel and a gardener were killed, but the attack was foiled. JeM claimed responsibility for the attack, but removed the announcement a day later under pressure from the ISI. The Indian Government accused the LeT and JeM of being involved in the attack. Subsequently, four JeM members were caught by Indian authorities and put on trial. All four were found guilty of playing various roles in the incident. One of the accused, Afzal Guru, was sentenced to death.. ''The Hindu'', 17 December 2002, Retrieved 8 September 2011. Security specialist Bruce Riedel comments that even by the standards of modern terrorism, this was an extraordinary attack. If the Prime Minister or a senior party leader of India was killed in the attack, India would have been forced to retaliate militarily. In the event, India called the terror attack an "attack on democracy" and began large-scale troop mobilisation at the India-Pakistan border, launching the largest war games in fifteen years. Pakistan retaliated by launching its own war games, moving troops from the Afghan border to the Indian border. The United States, annoyed with the dilution of the War on Terror as well as the threat of an Indo-Pakistani war, delivered an ultimatum to Musharraf, asking him to make "a clear statement to the world that he intends to crack down on terror". Pushed to a corner, Musharraf announced on 12 January 2002 that no organisation would be allowed to indulge in terrorism in the name of Kashmir. He declared a ban on five extremist groups including the JeM. Hundreds of militants were rounded up, states Ahmed Rashid, giving rise to severe hostility and derision from them. However, by March 2002, all the arrested militants were freed and curbs on them were quietly lifted. Financial and intelligence inputs to JeM were resumed. Masood Azhar was released under a court order.

Bans, revolts and split

Earlier in 2001, when the group anticipated that the US State Department would declare it a foreign Islamic jihadist organisation, it renamed itself ''Tehrik-ul-Furqan'' and transferred its assets to low-profile supporters. JeM was declared a foreign Islamic jihadist organisation by the United Nations in October 2001 and by the US in December 2001. In response to the January 2002 ban by Pakistan, JeM changed its name to Khuddam ul-Islam. Khuddam was also banned in 2003, after which it re-branded itself as a charity called ''Al-Rehmat Trust'' through which they are accused of raising funds for their activities. By this time, the JeM had split into two groups, due to conflicts among the members. Three JeM commanders, Abdul Jabbar, Maulana Umar Farooq and Abdullah Shah Mazhar, left the group and formed ''Jamaat ul-Furqan''. The remaining group that stayed with Masood Azhar used the name ''Khuddam ul-Islam''. The rank and file of the JeM were angered by Musharraf's U-turn in joining the War on Terror. By staying loyal to the Pakistani state, Masood Azhar lost majority support in the JeM Supreme Council, who demanded his resignation. Particularly influential among the rebels was Maulana Abdul Jabbar, whose faction led a ''jihad'' against what they called the "slave" government of Pakistan and the US influence upon it. They were supported by Al Qaeda, and joined by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba,

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; ur, ) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi Sunni supremacist, terrorist and jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan. The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and is an offshoot of anti-Shi ...

and Harkatul Mujahideen. From March to September 2002, the rebels carried out suicide missions on Pakistani officials in cities like Islamabad, Karachi, Murree, Taxila and Bahawalpur. After the fall of the Taliban government, the JeM activists returning from Afghanistan attacked Christian temples, Shia mosques and diplomatic missions inside Pakistan. The ISI demanded Masood Azhar to rein in the rank-and-file. However he had lost control over them. He maintained that they were already expelled from the organisation and the state should arrest them. In fact, most of the factions remained within the JeM and competed with the parent organisation for authority and resources. Some rebellious factions gathered around Abdul Jabbar who launched ''Jamaat-ul-Furqan'' in late 2002. The rebel factions were supported by "rogue" members of the ISI. In November 2003, the Musharraf government banned the renamed ''Khuddam ul-Islam'' as well as ''Jamaat-ul-Furqan''. Then the rebels carried out two assassination attempts on President Musharraf himself, on 14 December and 25 December 2003. There was evidence of Pakistan military members providing logistical support for the attempts. The explosives used in the bombings were traced to an Al Qaeda camp in South Waziristan. Masood Azhar too had publicly called for the assassination of Musharraf. Eventually, the government cracked down on the rogue elements in the military and intelligence establishments. More than a hundred members were apprehended and dismissed, with some members being sentenced to death. However, the majority of the militant infrastructure was left intact. Azhar's group, which had fallen into relative obscurity by 2004, was allowed to rebuild itself after the problematic portions of the leadership were purged. The rebellious factions eventually realigned themselves with

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 ...

(Pakistani Taliban) in 2007.

Revival

Masood Azhar stayed loyal to the Pakistani state after 2004. Pakistan in turn protected his group despite the official bans. The group continued to grow in

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...

. In 2009, it was reported to have built a large 6.5 acre walled complex in Bahawalpur, along with a swimming pool and a stable for a dozen horses, which could be used for training militants. ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new o ...

'' later revealed that the complex has been branded as 'Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah' and that it was 8 km. away from the headquarters of Pakistan Army's 31 Corps. In the centre of the city, the group runs an "imposing" madrassa, attended by hundreds of children every year. In 2008, the organisation held a massive three-day rally in the city, with its own armed security guards posted at all the entrances to the city centre. The police were conspicuous by their absence. Masood Azhar kept a low profile for several years until he resurfaced in 2014, giving fiery speeches calling for more attacks on India and the United States. He boasted of having 300 suicide attackers at his command and threatened to kill

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

if he were to become the Prime Minister. Bruce Riedel connects the revival of JeM to the return to office of Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

, who had long advocated a 'détente' with India. The developing links between him and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially following the latter's visit to Lahore on the Christmas Day in 2015, angered the group.

2016

A week after Narendra Modi's visit, in January 2016, the group launched an attack on the Pathankot air base in which seven security personnel were killed. This was immediately followed by an attack on the Indian consulate in

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

in Afghanistan. Both India and Pakistan condemned the attack and stayed on course with their peace process. Pakistan has also followed on the leads provided by India and carried out raids on the offices of JeM. It announced the formation of a joint investigation team with India to investigate the attack. It was also announced that Masood Azhar was taken into "protective custody". However, JeM issued a statement denying that anybody had been arrested. In April 2016, the JeM chief Masood Azhar was said to be free but "within reach, if needed". According to

Riaz Hussain Pirzada Riaz Hussain Pirzada (; born 1 August 1948) is a Pakistani politician who has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly between 1993 and May 2018 and was a member of ...

, the Member of National Assembly from Bahawalpur, the "breeding grounds" still remained and the madrassas were still being financed.JeM’s Azhar lives freely in Pakistan, govt never detained him: Report
''Hindustan Times'', 26 April 2016. According to an official, Nawaz Sharif ordered the Counterterrorism Department to crack down on the organisation but, in a high-level meeting, the army chief General

Raheel Sharif General Raheel Sharif (Urdu: ; born 16 June 1956), is a retired four-star army general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 9th Chief of Army Staff from 29 November 2013 to 29 November 2016. After his retirement as Pakistan's army chief, he ...

pressured the Prime Minister to hand over the crackdown to the Army, after which "no one knows what happened". ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...

'' reported the Punjab Chief Minister

Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: , ; born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who is currently serving as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan, in office since 11 April 2022. He is the current president of ...

as saying that, whenever civilian authorities took action against certain groups, the security establishment worked behind the scenes to set them free. The government however denied the accuracy of the report. Following the onset of the 2016 Kashmir unrest in Indian Jammu and Kashmir, all the ''jihadi'' groups in Pakistan held rallies in major cities like

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. The JeM was seen openly raising funds for ''jihad''. In September 2016, ''jihadi'' militants attacked the Indian brigade headquarters in Uri, close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack resulted in the death of 19 soldiers, described as the deadliest attack in over two decades. India suspected JeM for the attack. It also made its feelings felt with heavy rhetoric, the Indian Home Minister calling Pakistan a "terrorist state" and noting that the perpetrators were "highly trained, heavily armed, and specially equipped". Pakistan denied involvement. India then launched a diplomatic offensive, trying to isolate Pakistan in the world community. On 28 September, it declared that it had carried out " surgical strikes" on alleged JeM camps in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The claim was however denied by Pakistan.

2019

On 14 February 2019, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out and claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Lathpora near

Awantipora Awantipora () or Avantipur or Aavantipur, known as Woontpor () in Kashmiri, is a town, just opposite of Pulwama city, on the banks of the river Jhelum in the Pulwama district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is on the J ...

in Pulwama District in Kashmir on a convoy of security forces that killed at least 40 Indian personnel. A bus carrying 39 Central Reserve Police Force personnel was rammed by a car carrying 350 kg of explosives. On 26 February 2019, 12 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 jets crossed the Line of Control, and dropped precision-guided bombs on an alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in

Balakot Balakot (; ur, ; ) is a town in Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The town was destroyed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, but was later rebuilt with the assistance of the Government of Pakistan and Saudi P ...

, a town in the Khyber province of

. The Pakistani government denied that any damage was caused by the bombs. On 27 August 2019, two members of a nomadic community were killed by terrorists believed to be members of Jaish-e-Mohammed in the higher reaches of Tral in south Kashmir after they were abducted from their temporary shelter.

2021

After the Taliban seizure of Afghanistan, many JeM cadres were released, the JeM and Taliban have held meetings and the JeM has been assured of all support in carrying out its activities in India. The Hindustan Times reported on Oct 27, 2021 that JeM's leader Masood Azhar met w/ Taliban leaders including Mullah Baradar in Khandar in late August 2021 seeking their help in the Kashmir fight.

Ideology and goals

The declared objective of the JeM is to liberate Kashmir and merge it with Pakistan. However, it projects Kashmir as a "gateway" to the entire India, whose Muslims are also deemed to be in need of liberation. After liberating Kashmir, it aims to carry its ''jihad'' to other parts of India, with an intent to drive Hindus and other non-Muslims from 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 ...

. JeM also aims to drive the United States and Western forces from Afghanistan. The JeM leader Masood Azhar is reported to have said in a speech in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

: In late 2002, Christians were targeted across Pakistan and the gunmen belonging to JeM were caught for the acts. Some members have attacked members of the Pakistani state and western targets inside Pakistan. The American journalist

Daniel Pearl Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.' Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...

was abducted and murdered by Ahmed Omar Sheikh.

Organisation

Leadership

JeM's founder and leader (''emir'') is Maulana Masood Azhar, who had earlier been a leader of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Having trained at the same religious seminary (

Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia ( ur, , ''Jāmi‘ah ‘Ulūm-i Islāmīyah'' / , ''Jāmi‘atul-‘Ulūmul-Islāmīyah'') is an Islamic University in Banoori Town, Karachi, Pakistan. The university continues the tradition of the Darul Uloom system i ...

in Karachi) as the Taliban founder

Mullah Omar Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Born into a religious family of Kandahar, Omar was educated at local '' ma ...

, he had long-standing connections to Taliban and Al Qaeda. He had fought in Afghanistan and set up Harkat affiliates in Chechnya, Central Asia and Somalia. He was reputed to have taught the Somalis how to shoot down American Black Hawk helicopters. He was regarded as a close associate of Osama bin Laden, when he was sent to Britain for fund raising in the early 1990s. In 1994 Azhar went to Indian-administered Kashmir on a "mission" and got arrested by Indian security forces. Reportedly, Osama bin Laden wanted Azhar freed and ordered Al Qaeda to arrange the hijacking that led to his release. Subsequently, Azhar was lionized in Pakistan and promoted by the ISI as the leader of the new group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Azhar was specially designated as a "global Islamic terrorist" by the US Treasury Department in 2010. JeM is run by Azhar's family like a family enterprise. Masood Azhar's brother,

Abdul Rauf Asghar Abdul Rauf is a Pakistani Deobandi fundamentalist Islamist militant commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Deobandi Islamist militant organization which has carried out Islamist militant activities in India & Afghanistan under the supp ...

, is a senior leader of JeM and its intelligence coordinator. He was one of the hijackers of the flight IC 814 and served as the "acting leader" of JeM in Masood Azhar's absence in 2007. Since 2008, he has been involved with organising suicide attacks in India, including the

2016 Pathankot attack The 2016 Pathankot attack was a terrorist attack committed on 2 January 2016 by a heavily armed group of Islamic militants which attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force. Four attacke ...

, where he was found to have directed the militants via telephone. Abdul Rauf Asghar has also been designated as a "global terrorists" by the US Treasury department.

Membership

The launch of JeM in Karachi in 2000 was attended by 10,000 armed followers. The majority of the early membership was drawn from Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Having fought in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban and Al Qaeda, these members carried loyalty to those organisations and enmity towards the United States. Approximately three-quarters of JeM's membership is drawn from Punjab in Pakistan, from

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

and

Rahim Yar Khan Rahim Yar Khan () is a city in Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the 9th largest city of Pakistan by population. It is the capital of the Rahim Yar Khan District and Rahim Yar Khan Tehsil. The administration of the city is subdivided into ni ...

districts. This region being the main ethnic origin of the Pakistani military corps, ISI believed that the shared ethnicity would make the JeM aligned to the military's strategic goals. There are also a large number of Afghans and Arabs. Several western militants of Pakistani origin have also joined the organisation. Prominent among them are

Rashid Rauf Rashid Rauf (ca. 1981 – 22 November 2008) was an alleged Al-Qaeda operative. He was a dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan who was arrested in Bhawalpur, Pakistan in connection with the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot in August 2006, a day b ...

, who was involved with a 2006 plot to blow up transatlantic airliners,

Shehzad Tanweer Shehzad Tanweer (15 December 1982 – 7 July 2005) was one of four Islamist terrorists who detonated explosives in three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2005 London bombings. 56 people were killed ...

, who was involved with the 2005 London Underground bombings, and Ahmed Omar Sheikh, convicted of murdering

. Following the split in 2002, the majority of the original fighters left the parent organisation and joined renegade groups. When the organisation was revived by 2009, JeM was believed to have between one and two thousand fighters and several thousand supporting personnel. Masood Azhar claimed having 300 suicide attackers at his command.

Infrastructure

JeM originally operated training camps in Afghanistan, jointly with the other militant groups. After the fall of the Taliban government, it relocated them to

and

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and

Muzaffarabad Muzaffarabad (; ur, ) is the capital and largest city of Azad Kashmir, and the 60th largest in Pakistan. The city is located in Muzaffarabad District, near the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by the Pak ...

in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. By 2009, it developed a new headquarters in

in Pakistani Punjab, 420 miles south of

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. These include a madrassa in the centre of the city and a 6.5 acre walled complex that serves as a training facility, including water training and horse back riding. Bahawalpur also serves as a rest and recuperation facility for jihadists fighting in Afghanistan, away from the areas of US drone attacks. It is also close to the bases of other militant groups with which JeM is believed to have operational ties:

Muridke Muridke (Punjabi, ur, ), is a city and headquarters of Muridke Tehsil of Sheikhupura District in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 53rd largest city of Pakistan by population. Muridke is situated near the city of Lahore, at an elevation of 205 m ...

Sipah-e-Sahaba Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, , Guardians of the Prophet's Companions), renamed to Millat-e-Islamia, is a Islamist organisation in Pakistan, which also functioned as a political party. It broke away from the main Deobandi Sunni organisation ...

Gojra Gojra (Punjabi and ur, ), the administrative capital of Gojra Tehsil, is the city of Toba Tek Singh District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Gojra is from Faisalabad, from Lahore and north of Toba Tek Singh. Founded in 1896 during the ...

, and

also based in Punjab. There are at least 500–1000 other madrassas in Bahawalpur, most of which teach a violent version of Islam to children.

Publications

Like other jihadi outfits in the country, JeM distills its ideology through the print media, its publications including the weekly ''Al-Qalam'' in Urdu and English, monthly ''Ayeshatul Binat'' in Urdu for women and weekly ''Musalman Bachy'' for children.

Links to other organisations

When JeM started, it had strong ties to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, sharing their training camps in Afghanistan, and exchanging intelligence, training and coordination. Bruce Riedel suggests that the 2001 Indian Parliament attack was possibly a "payback" to Al-Qaeda for its earlier help in getting Masood Azhar released. With the Indian reaction to the attack, Pakistan was forced to move its forces from the Afghan border to the Indian border, relieving pressure on Al-Qaeda. Most of the JeM members with loyalties to the Taliban left to join renegade groups in 2002. However, Masood Azhar's group was noticed recruiting fighters for the Afghan ''jihad'' in 2008. In 2010, Pakistan's Interior minister

Rehman Malik Abdul Rehman Malik NI (Punjabi, Urdu: رحمان ملک; born 12 December 1951 – 23 February 2022) was a Pakistani politician and a Federal Investigation Agency officer, having served as the Interior Minister from being appointed on 25 March ...

stated that the JeM, along with

and

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, , Guardians of the Prophet's Companions), renamed to Millat-e-Islamia, is a Islamist organisation in Pakistan, which also functioned as a political party. It broke away from the main Deobandi Sunni organisation ...

, were allied to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Within South Punjab, the JeM is closely allied to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba. Scholars Abou Zahab and Roy state that the three organisations appear to be "the same party" focusing on different sectors of activity. JeM continues to have links to its ancestor, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. In addition, the group has operational ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, which it employed in launching the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. It joined the ISI-sponsored

United Jihad Council The United Jihad Council, also known as the Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC), is an Islamist Jihadist organisation formed by the Pakistan Army for unified command and control over the anti-Indian terror groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir. It was ...

, an umbrella organisation of 13–16 militant organisations that fight in Indian-administered Kashmir. Khuddam ul-Islam is a militant splinter group of the Jaish-e-Mohammed. It is a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the

Terrorism Act 2000 The Terrorism Act 2000 (c.11) is the first of a number of general Terrorism Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It superseded and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 and the Northern Ireland (Emer ...

and said to be politically aligned with Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman's faction of

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam ( ur, جمیعت علماءِ اسلام, abbreviated as JUI) was founded by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani as an offshoot of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) on 26 October 1945. History The original Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind was formed in Br ...

. Some sources believe that Khuddam ul-Islam is simply a restructuring of JeM and that the group is under the command of Mufti

, the younger brother of JeM's founder,

Notable attacks

* The group, in co-ordination with

, has been implicated in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in New Delhi. * It has been suspected in the murder of American journalist

in Karachi. * Rahul Gandhi kidnap plot was a failed plot of this militant group to kidnap a prominent Indian political personality in lieu of 42 militant imprisoned in India. Several newspapers reported that the political personality was

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...

, scion of the India's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty. The three Pakistani nationals were arrested namely Mohammed Abid alias Fateh from

, Yusuf alias Faisal of

and Mirza Rashid Beg alias Raja Kajafi of

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

. * An

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

, posing as a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed, helped police to arrest four people allegedly plotting to bomb a New York City synagogue as well as to shoot

Stinger A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of ve ...

missiles at military aircraft in the United States. The arrest of the four took place in May 2009. One of the four, by the name of James Cromitie, allegedly expressed the desire to join Jaish-e-Mohammed. This expression allegedly took place approximately a year prior to this arrest. * In January 2016, members of the group were suspected of carrying out the Pathankot attack. * In September 2016, the group was accused of carrying out an attack over an army camp at Uri, Kashmir. * On 14 February 2019, a suicide bomber of the group, Adil Ahmad Dar, carried out a suicide bombing attack on a convoy of security vehicles near Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir and killed at least 40

CRPF The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police F ...

personnel.

References

General bibliography

Origins

History

2000–2001

Bans, revolts and split

Revival

2016

2019

2021

Ideology and goals

Organisation

Leadership

Membership

Infrastructure

Publications

Links to other organisations

Notable attacks

See also

References

General bibliography