Lashkar-e-Taiba

Lashkar-e-Taiba

لشکرِ طیبہ
Also known asجماعت الدعوہ
Founders
AmeerHafiz Muhammad Saeed
Naib AmeerZafar Iqbal (co-founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawa)
SpokesmanMuhammad Yahya Mujahid
Dates of operation1985/1986–present
Allegiance Pakistan
Afghanistan (self-declared)
Group(s)
MotivesIntegration of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan
HeadquartersMuridke, Punjab, Pakistan
Active regionsWorldwide, predominantly in the Indian subcontinent
Ideology
Political positionFar-right
Notable attacks
StatusActive
SizeUnknown
Part ofUnited Jihad Council
AlliesNon-state allies

State allies

OpponentsState opponents

Formerly:

Battles and warsSoviet-Afghan war
Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)
Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)
Kashmir conflict
Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Designated as a terrorist group by

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistani Islamist militant organization driven by a Salafi jihadist ideology. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan. It was founded in 1985–1986 by Hafiz Saeed, Zafar Iqbal Shehbaz, Abdullah Azzam and several other Islamist mujahideen with funding from Osama bin Laden during the Soviet–Afghan War. It has been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations and numerous other countries and been responsible for terrorist attacks on civilians in India, such as the 2000 Red Fort attack, 2005 Delhi bombings, 2006 Mumbai train bombings and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

It has been supported by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and is often viewed as a proxy militant organization used by Pakistan against India.

Its affiliated front organisations include the Milli Muslim League, a political party, and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the group's "charity wing". The group differs from most other militant groups in Pakistan in following the Islamic interpretation of Ahl-i Hadith (which is similar to Wahhabism and Salafism), and in foreswearing attacks on the government of Pakistan and sectarian attacks on Pakistanis "who have professed faith" in Islam.