Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Jihadist militant organisation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jihadist militant organisation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; Urdu: لشکر جھنگوی, Army of Jhangvi), is a Deobandi supremacist, terrorist[8] and 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 | |
Flag of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi | |
| Founders | Riaz Basra † Malik Ishaq † Akram Lahori  Ghulam Rasool Shah † |
| Leader | Riaz Basra † Malik Ishaq † Akram Lahori Ghulam Rasool Shah † Asif Ali †[1] Qari Mohammad Yasin †[2] |
| Dates of operation | 1996–present |
| Split from | Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan |
| Motives | Extermination of the Shia community in Pakistan |
| Headquarters | Afghanistan[3][4] |
| Active regions | Pakistan Afghanistan |
| Ideology | Islamism Deobandi supremacism Islamic fundamentalism[5] Takfirism[6][7] Anti-Shi'ism |
| Notable attacks | |
| Status | Active. 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 dangerous 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]
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]
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.
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]
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. [citation needed]
Upon the death of Riaz Basra in May 2002, correspondence between al-Qaeda and LJ seems to have stopped.[12]
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.
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