Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; Urdu: لشکرِ طیبہ[ˈləʃkəreːˈt̪ɛːjba]; 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)[4][59][60] is a terrorist group formed in Pakistan,[61] and a militant and IslamistSalafi jihadist organisation. Described as one of Pakistan's "most powerful jihadi groups", it is most infamous outside Pakistan. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan.[23][62] It was founded in 1985–1986 by Hafiz Saeed, Zafar Iqbal Shehbaz Abdullah Azzam and several other Islamistmujahideen[63][64][65][66] with funding from Osama bin Laden[67][33] during the Soviet–Afghan War. It has been designated a terrorist group by numerous countries.
Affiliated organisations that share the group's "ideological inclinations and motivations" include the Milli Muslim League, a political party, and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the group's "charity wing", a front for the LeT that emerged later. The group differs from most other militant organisations 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.[10][20][68]
^ abKurth Cronin, Audrey; Huda Aden; Adam Frost; Benjamin Jones (6 February 2004). Foreign Terrorist Organizations(PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
^Winchell, Sean P. (2003), "Pakistan's ISI: The Invisible Government", International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 16 (3): 374–388, doi:10.1080/713830449, S2CID154924792
^ abc
Ashley J. Tellis (11 March 2010). "Bad Company – Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and the Growing Ambition of Mujahidein in Pakistan"(PDF). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Archived from the original on 11 April 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014. The group's earliest operations were focused on the Kunar and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan, where LeT had set up several training camps in support of the jihad against the Soviet occupation.
^Shandon Harris-Hogan. "The Australian Neojihadist network: Origins, evolution and structure." Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, Volume 5, Issue 1. Global Terrorism Research Centre. Monash University. Victoria: Australia. (2012): pp. 18–30.
^Koschade, Stuart Andrew. "The internal dynamics of terrorist cells: a social network analysis of terrorist cells in an Australian context." (2007).
^Cite error: The named reference hindu20081206 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Raman, B. (15 December 2001). "The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET)". South Asia Analysis Group. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Haqqani, Husain (27 March 2015). "Prophecy & the Jihad in the Indian subcontinent". Hudson Institute. For example, Lashkar-e-Taiba has often spoken of Ghazwa-e-Hind as a means of liberating Kashmir from Indian control. The group's founder, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has declared repeatedly that '[i]f freedom is not given to the Kashmiris, then we will occupy the whole of India including Kashmir. We will launch Ghazwa-e-Hind. Our homework is complete to get Kashmir.' Pakistani propagandist Zaid Hamid has also repeatedly invoked Ghazwa-e-Hind as a battle against Hindu India led from Muslim Pakistan. According to Hamid, 'Allah has destined the people of Pakistan' with victory and 'Allah is the aid and helper of Pakistan.'
^Ashley J. Tellis (11 March 2010). "Bad Company – Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and the Growing Ambition of Islamist Mujahidein in Pakistan"(PDF). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Archived from the original on 11 April 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014. The group's earliest operations were focused on the Kunar and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan, where LeT had set up several training camps in support of the jihad against the Soviet occupation.
^Cite error: The named reference Macander-CSIS-2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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