Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
| 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 Chotu † Qari Mohammad Yasin † |
| Dates of operation | 1996–2024 |
| Split from | Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan |
| Country | Pakistan (until 2024) Afghanistan (until 2024) |
| Motives | Extermination of the Shia community in Pakistan |
| Headquarters | Afghanistan (until 2024) |
| Active regions | Pakistan (until 2024) Afghanistan (until 2024) |
| Ideology | Sunni Islamism Deobandi supremacism Islamic fundamentalism Takfirism Anti-Shi'ism Anti-Hazara sentiment |
| Major actions | Terrorism, Sectarianism, Genocide, Ethnic cleansing, Mass murder, Rape, Torture. |
| Notable attacks | |
| Status | Inactive/Defunct (Banned in Pakistan) |
| Size | Unknown |
| Allies | |
| Opponents | State opponents
Non-State opponents |
| Designated as a terrorist group by | |
| Part of a series on the |
| Deobandi movement |
|---|
| Ideology and influences |
| Founders and key figures |
|
| Notable institutions |
| Centres (markaz) of Tablighi Jamaat |
| Associated organizations |
| Deobandi jihadism |
| Deobandi jihadism: |
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) Urdu: لشکر جھنگوی, Army of Jhangvi) was a Deobandi terrorist organisation driven by a Takfiri Anti-Shia ideology based in Afghanistan. The LeJ was 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. The LeJ operated in Pakistan and Afghanistan until 2024.
The LeJ had claimed responsibility for various mass casualty attacks against the Shia community in Pakistan, including multiple bombings that killed over 200 Hazara Shias in Quetta in 2013. It had 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. A predominantly Punjabi and Pashtun group, the LeJ had been labelled by Pakistani intelligence officials as one of the country's most dangerous terrorist organization.
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. LeJ was banned by Pakistan in August 2001. The LeJ remained active until 2024, and had been designated as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States, NATO, Iran, the European Union, and the United Nations.