The American Pundit

“Lashkar-e-Taiba” is a name most of the American population, or world for that matter, had never heard of until this past week. The terrorist group isn’t as well-known to the general public as Hezbollah or Al Qaeda, but, as the recent attacks in Mumbai have apparently demonstrated (India blames the group for the death and destruction), it is extremely dangerous. Let’s take a quick look into the LeT’s past and present.

First and foremost, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (or “Army of the Good”) is the militant wing of the Islamist fundamentalist group Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad. The MDI was founded in 1989 while the LeT was first noticed around 1993. Experts say that the group received funding and training from Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s official intelligence service, in order to fight Indian control in Kashmir. The Pakistani government, of course, denies the claims.

Until Pervez Musharraf’s government officially banned the group in 2002, the Lashkar-e-Taiba routinely claimed responsibility for deadly terrorist attacks. Their resume of terror includes an attack at Srinagar airport that claimed five lives and an attack in 2002 against Indian border security forces that killed four. A spokesman for the group has denied having anything to do with the recent Mumbai attacks, however.

Wait. Did I say “spokesman”? Yes. You see, the banning didn’t end LeT’s work in Pakistan. It simply went underground and set up a legal political operation, working under the guise of an Islamic charity called “Jaamat-ud-Dawa”. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who helped to found Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad (remember: the group the LeT is the militant wing of), still works as the head of the “charity” at the “charity’s” headquarters near the Pakistani city of Lahore.

But wait! Because Pakistan’s about to get a whole lot more involved here. The Telegraph reports that President Asif Zardari allowed Saeed to import a bullet-proof vehicle just recently. Sources tell the paper that the ISI only severed its connections to the LeT after it was linked to multiple assassination attempts on Pervez Musharraf….in 2004.

Now Pakistan says it will take action against the group, but only after India presents evidence to convince it that the group was responsible. A spokesman for President Zardari says they have “only an allegation” and that they “demanded evidence of the complicity of any Pakistani group”.

So there you have it. The best quick summary I could piece together on a terror organization that most (including myself) had never heard of until the attacks in Mumbai. The CFR does have a bit more indepth analysis of the LeT, including a possible link to Al Qaeda. If you have the time, please do read it all.