Tensions have been higher between India and Pakistan than in decades as the two countries condemned drone attacks on each other’s territories over the past few days. At the heart of the conflict, India claims that what it claims is Pakistan’s support for an armed separatist group operating in Kashmir, a disputed area between the two countries.
An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahargam attack in India-controlled Kashmir last month, which killed 26 people. India claims that the TRF is a derivative of another Pakistan-based armed group, Rashkar e Tayba (let), and has denounced Pakistan for supporting such groups.
Pakistan has denied this. In April, he condemned the attack and called for an independent investigation.
There are details about who the armed groups are and the major attacks they claimed or blamed.
The TRF appeared in 2019 following the suspension of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution by the Indian government, stripping India of its semi-autonomous status.
However, the group was not widely known before the attack on Pahalgam. This was held responsible in April via the Telegram messaging app. This said it opposed the granting of residency permits to “outsiders.”
Since the abolition of Article 370, non-Kashmiris has been granted a residence permit to settle in Kashmir, controlled by India. This fears that the Indian government is trying to change the demographics of Kashmir, where the population is almost entirely Muslim.
Unlike other armed rebel groups in Kashmir, the TRF does not have an Islamic name.
However, the Indian government claims it is a derivative or front of the Rashkar e Tayba (let), a Pakistan-based armed group meaning “pure army.”
In 2020, TRF began claiming responsibility for minor attacks, including targeted killings. TRF Recruit included rebels from various split rebel groups. Indian security agents say they have arrested several TRF members since then.
According to Indian government records, most armed fighters killed in the Kashmir shootouts were partnering with the TRF in 2022.
LET, which seeks “liberation” of India-controlled Kashmir, was founded around 1990 by Hafiz Muhammad Sayed. He is also known as Hafiz Said.
In 2008, an armed gunman fired fire at civilians at several sites in Mumbai, India, killing 166 people. The only living attacker, Ajmal Kasab, said the attacker was a member of the LET. However, Said denied his involvement in the attack. Kasab was executed by India in 2012.
India has also blamed Pakistan’s intelligence agency for its attack. Pakistan acknowledged that the attack may be partially planned in Pakistani soil, but claimed that the government and intelligence reporting agency were not involved.
According to the United Nations, Lett was also involved in the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and the 2006 attack on the Mumbai commuter train that killed 189 people.
On May 7, India launched missile attacks in Pakistan and several Kashmir cities controlled by Pakistan. One of these cities was Muridke in Punjab. India claims that Maridke is the headquarters of Jamat de Dawa, a charity that New Delhi claims to be the forefront of the Rett.
Last week, Indian troops claimed they attacked Markaz Taiba camp in Malidke. The Army also claimed that Kasab was trained in this camp.
Pakistan says let was banned. Following the attack on Pulwama in India controlled by India in 2019, Pakistan also reimposed a ban on revocation of Jamat de Dawa. Saeed was arrested in 2019, under the control of the Pakistani government and has been sentenced to 31 years in prison after being convicted in two “terrorist financing” cases.
Jaish-e-Muhammad (Jem), or “The Army of Muhammad,” was founded around 2000 by Masood Azhar, who was released from Indian prisons in 1999.
Azhar, arrested on a charge of “terrorism” and was released in exchange for 155 hostages being held by Indian Airlines plane hijackers.
Azhar previously had sought Kashmir to unite with Pakistan and fought under the banner of a group called Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, linked to al-Qaeda.
According to the UN Security Council, Jem also has ties to al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
Pakistan banned Gems in 2002 after the group was accused of attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001.
British-born Ahmed Omar Sayed Sheikh, who was convicted of murdering US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, was also a member of Gem. Pearl was the director of South Asia for the Wall Street Journal. However, a 2011 report published by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University claims that Pearl has not been murdered by Shake following its own investigation. Instead, the report allegedly held that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attack, was responsible. In 2021, a panel of three judges from Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Sheikh’s release.
Despite the ban, Indian authorities claim that the group continues to operate in Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab. On May 7, the Indian military alleged that the strike targeted Gem’s headquarters.
In 2019, Gem claimed a suicide bomb attack in which slaying 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in Pulwama in India-controlled Kashmir.
Azhar has been arrested twice by Pakistani authorities, but has been released and never charged. He has since disappeared from the public eye, and his current location is unknown.
Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen
The Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen (Hum), or “Party of the Holy Fighters,” was founded in 1989 by the Kashmiri Separatist leader Muhammad Ahsan Dar.
The group emerged from the 1988 protests in Kashmir against the Indian government. Also known as HIZB, the group became the largest indigenous rebellion group based in Kashmir, managed by India.
Rather than seeking independence, Ham asks that the entire Kashmir be allowed to join Pakistan.
The group has a large network of fighter jets in the Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts south of India-controlled Kashmir.
In 2016, the murder of popular Ham commander Burhan Wani sparked widespread protests in India-controlled Kashmir, leading to crackdowns by Indian security forces.
The following year, the US designated Ham as a “foreign terrorist organization” and imposed sanctions on the group.
Ham leader Riyaz Naikoo spoke to Al Jazeera in 2018.
When asked what the group’s request was, Naiku said: “Our demand is very simple. Freedom. Freedom means, for us, to completely dismantle the illegal occupation of Kashmir in India and all the structures that support it.
He added, “Pakistan sees Pakistan as an ideological and moral friend” as it is the only country that has consistently supported our cause and raised concerns about the Kashmir freedom struggle at international forums.”
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