JeM, like LeT, is a creation of the Pakistan Army. LeT was created during the Afghan Jihad to infiltrate the Arab-led mujahideen brigades so that the army could control the funds and weapons that came from the West. JeM, on the other hand, was created after the army-ISI masterminded the Kandahar hijacking in December 1999 and forced the Indian government to release three notorious terrorists: Masood Azhar, Syed Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zardar. Azhar and Sheikh were members of ISI-run Harkat-ul Ansar and were sent to India to create an "intefida" like situation in Kashmir. Azhar, on his return to Pakistan, announced the setting up of JeM at a press conference in Karachi. Azhar’s handler in the ISI was Brigadier Ijaz Shah, a close confidante of President Pervez Musharraf.
Azhar was allowed to recruit several thousand men from southern and central Punjab in 2000 and 2001 and set up his fortified headquarters in Bahawalpur. He was also given access to training camps run by Harkat ul Ansar and Hizb-ul Mujahideen in PoK and other areas. With the ISI blessing, Azhar’s cadres were allowed to infiltrate into India, with the Pakistan Army giving fire cover at the Line of Control, and carry out suicide attacks in Kashmir and other parts of India. ISI also allowed JeM to utilise its cells and agents working in India to facilitate terrorist attacks in different parts of India. This gave the Army an effective two-pronged instrument of terror to inflict heavy damage on India.
However, some events in late 2003 soured this relationship. JeM was found to be involved in the conspiracy to assassinate President Musharraf. Some JeM activists had conspired with a set of Pakistan Air Force personnel to carry out three assassination attempts on Musharraf in late December. Investigations carried out by the then Lt. Gen. Pervez Kayani found JeM to be involved in anti-State activities. Since then, JeM and its leader Azhar were forced to remain low key and their activities confined to Bahawalpur.
Two years down the line, however, Kayani decided to ease restrictions on JeM and allowed it to set up some training camps in Dir and Lower Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to train new cadres for the Taliban army fighting the Western forces in Afghanistan. Several JeM training camps in PoK had been destroyed in the October 2005 earthquake and the army was not averse to the group rehabilitating its cadre and trainers in new camps in KP. In 2006, reports in the Pakistan media showed the emergence of a vast training campus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas to train new recruits for the Taliban, which the Pakistan Army was keen to help organise and strengthen to counter the NATO military campaign. Some of these camps were handed over to the JeM trainers; lots of money and weapons were pumped in to support this new terrorist infrastructure which, for years, remained out of the global attention. JeM was also allowed to set up a new coordination centre in Peshawar to facilitate recruitment, training and travels of recruits for the Taliban. In fact, the Guantanamo files showed the extent of the JeM’s role in shoring up the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
The past few months have witnessed a dramatic revival in the fortunes of JeM, thanks largely to the benign ignorance of the state agencies, both civilian and military. JeM is now actively recruiting and raising funds from its traditional strongholds in Punjab. Efforts are also on to revive its old networks of training and recruitment centres besides searching for the trainers and mid-rung leaders who had left the group following the restrictions imposed on its since 2003. The group has revived its charity arm, Al Rehmat Trust, which has been its key fund raising wing in the early years of its expansion. The trust was run by Masood Azhar’s father, Allah Baksh, who died last year. The trust is now run by Maulana Ashfaq Ahmad, a close confidante of Azhar. Ahmad recently told journalists that the trust was openly raising funds in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that no one had stopped them from doing so.
JeM is setting up new offices in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides reviving its networks in Kohat and Hazara regions. The Ramadan season has boosted the group’s fund raising efforts considerably. Masood Azhar’s younger brother Amar Azhar has been travelling to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, traditional funders of jihad in Pakistan, to gather funds for the revival of the group. He has been courting rich businessmen and the diaspora in these countries. Although the activities of the trust have been quite well known to the police and intelligence officials, there has been no order from the federal government to stop the trust from raising funds for jihad.
Fund raising activities are also on a high gear elsewhere. Mosques in south and central Punjab are being used by JeM ideologues to raise the pitch for jihad and funds to revive JeM, raising serious questions about Pakistan’s commitment towards containing terrorism and terrorist groups.
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Pakistan Army Quietly Reviving Jaish-e Mohammad
September 13, 2011
JeM, like LeT, is a creation of the Pakistan Army. LeT was created during the Afghan Jihad to infiltrate the Arab-led mujahideen brigades so that the army could control the funds and weapons that came from the West. JeM, on the other hand, was created after the army-ISI masterminded the Kandahar hijacking in December 1999 and forced the Indian government to release three notorious terrorists: Masood Azhar, Syed Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zardar. Azhar and Sheikh were members of ISI-run Harkat-ul Ansar and were sent to India to create an "intefida" like situation in Kashmir. Azhar, on his return to Pakistan, announced the setting up of JeM at a press conference in Karachi. Azhar’s handler in the ISI was Brigadier Ijaz Shah, a close confidante of President Pervez Musharraf.
Azhar was allowed to recruit several thousand men from southern and central Punjab in 2000 and 2001 and set up his fortified headquarters in Bahawalpur. He was also given access to training camps run by Harkat ul Ansar and Hizb-ul Mujahideen in PoK and other areas. With the ISI blessing, Azhar’s cadres were allowed to infiltrate into India, with the Pakistan Army giving fire cover at the Line of Control, and carry out suicide attacks in Kashmir and other parts of India. ISI also allowed JeM to utilise its cells and agents working in India to facilitate terrorist attacks in different parts of India. This gave the Army an effective two-pronged instrument of terror to inflict heavy damage on India.
However, some events in late 2003 soured this relationship. JeM was found to be involved in the conspiracy to assassinate President Musharraf. Some JeM activists had conspired with a set of Pakistan Air Force personnel to carry out three assassination attempts on Musharraf in late December. Investigations carried out by the then Lt. Gen. Pervez Kayani found JeM to be involved in anti-State activities. Since then, JeM and its leader Azhar were forced to remain low key and their activities confined to Bahawalpur.
Two years down the line, however, Kayani decided to ease restrictions on JeM and allowed it to set up some training camps in Dir and Lower Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to train new cadres for the Taliban army fighting the Western forces in Afghanistan. Several JeM training camps in PoK had been destroyed in the October 2005 earthquake and the army was not averse to the group rehabilitating its cadre and trainers in new camps in KP. In 2006, reports in the Pakistan media showed the emergence of a vast training campus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas to train new recruits for the Taliban, which the Pakistan Army was keen to help organise and strengthen to counter the NATO military campaign. Some of these camps were handed over to the JeM trainers; lots of money and weapons were pumped in to support this new terrorist infrastructure which, for years, remained out of the global attention. JeM was also allowed to set up a new coordination centre in Peshawar to facilitate recruitment, training and travels of recruits for the Taliban. In fact, the Guantanamo files showed the extent of the JeM’s role in shoring up the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
The past few months have witnessed a dramatic revival in the fortunes of JeM, thanks largely to the benign ignorance of the state agencies, both civilian and military. JeM is now actively recruiting and raising funds from its traditional strongholds in Punjab. Efforts are also on to revive its old networks of training and recruitment centres besides searching for the trainers and mid-rung leaders who had left the group following the restrictions imposed on its since 2003. The group has revived its charity arm, Al Rehmat Trust, which has been its key fund raising wing in the early years of its expansion. The trust was run by Masood Azhar’s father, Allah Baksh, who died last year. The trust is now run by Maulana Ashfaq Ahmad, a close confidante of Azhar. Ahmad recently told journalists that the trust was openly raising funds in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that no one had stopped them from doing so.
JeM is setting up new offices in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides reviving its networks in Kohat and Hazara regions. The Ramadan season has boosted the group’s fund raising efforts considerably. Masood Azhar’s younger brother Amar Azhar has been travelling to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, traditional funders of jihad in Pakistan, to gather funds for the revival of the group. He has been courting rich businessmen and the diaspora in these countries. Although the activities of the trust have been quite well known to the police and intelligence officials, there has been no order from the federal government to stop the trust from raising funds for jihad.
Fund raising activities are also on a high gear elsewhere. Mosques in south and central Punjab are being used by JeM ideologues to raise the pitch for jihad and funds to revive JeM, raising serious questions about Pakistan’s commitment towards containing terrorism and terrorist groups.
