THE biggest and best organised of the anti-Indiaterror groups and with amanifesto professing disin-tegration of the country, theLeT was founded to fight theSoviet army in Afghanistan.From the early 1990s, itbegan infiltrating hundredsof Pakistani fighters toshore up a flagging militantmovement and post-Kargil

it pioneered the concept of ‘fidayeen’ or suicide gunmen, engaging the se-curity forces in firefights todraw media and world at-tention. Closely allied withthe Pakistani military andfunctioning under the guiseof a now-banned social or-ganisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the LeT is the swordarm of the ISI’s operationsin the Indian hinterland.The LeT draws its cadrefrom Pakistan’s Punjabprovince and trains them incamps near Muzaffarabad,the capital of Pakistan oc-cupied Kashmir, before in-filtrating them across theLine of Control in Jammuand kashmir.

Prophets ofDOOMAglossary of terror groups who have takentheir war against India to the hinterland

Founded in 1986Chief HAFIZ M. SAEEDAttacks Mumbai 26/11 andAkshardham in September2002

Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT)

Founded in 2000Chief MAULANA MASOODAZHARAttacks Parliament in December 2001 andAyodhya in July 2005

Founded in 1989Chief QARI SAIFULLAHAKHTAR Attacks Assam 2008 blasts,Shramjeevi Express blasts

FOUNDED by MaulanaMasood Azhar a monthafter he was released forthe passengers of the hijacked IC-814, the JeM isthe newest terror organi-sation. The Jaish and theLeT now form one of thetwo groups used by the ISI

in its war against India. Itsbiggest operation outsidethe Kashmir Valley was theattack on Parliament onDecember 13, 2001 whichnearly triggered off war between the two countries.Azhar operates out of a fortified compound inBahawalpur in Punjab province of Pakistan and isone of the three peopleIndia wants from pakistan,along with Dawood andTiger Memon. The groupincreasingly relies on surrogate bases withinNepal, Bangladesh and the Middle East to movecadres and finances.

ANOTHER Pakistan-basedterror group founded dur-ing the Afghan resistance ofthe Soviet occupation, theHUJI quickly transformed it-self into yet another grouptargeting India in Jammuand Kashmir. Its eastern affiliate set up in 1992—the HUJI (Bangladesh) com-prising Bangladeshi veter-ans of the Afghan war—was declared a foreign ter-rorist organisation by theUS State Department thisyear. With its tentacles ex-tending from Karachi,Dhaka and Saudi Arabia,HUJI involves the under-worlds of Mumbai, Gujaratand West Bengal to supplymen, material and financeusing hawala channels. Inrecent years, the HUJI (B)has emerged as the idealcandidate for the ISI’s sec-ond front in the east and inits terror campaign againstIndia. Its activists have co-ordinated their attacks withthe LeT, SIMI and the JeM.

2008NEWSMAKER

TERRORISTTHE

Founded in 1989Chief MOHAMMEDYUSUF SHAH AKA SYEDSALAHUDDINAttacks July 10 IED blastkilling 10 soldiers outsideSrinagar

WHEN it was banned in2002, SIMI was alwaysthought of as a radicalIslamic organisation.However, in its years asan underground outfit, ithad morphed into amovement which calledfor targeted killings of political leaders and hadevolved a terror agenda.In March this year, thecapture of the ‘Nagori 13’,a group of nearly 50 well-educated, highly-moti-vated middle class youthled by Safdar Nagori, revealed a group whichfed recruits into otheroutfits like the LeT andHuJI and provided logisticsfor attacks. SIMI membersalso made up the IndianMujahideen, showing justhow amorphous the outfit had become.

Founded in 1979Chief PARESH BARUAAttacks Serial blasts inAssam, including theOctober 30 serial blastswhich killed 89 people

ULFA is the classic case of anorganisation that began toassert the rights of nativeAssamese playing into thehands of the ISI. A decade

ago, ULFA members were al-ready being trained in theISI camps and were equip-ped by Pakistan to wagewar against India. The or-ganisation now has closelinks with other Islamicmilitant groups includingthe HuJI (B) with whom it isbelieved to have carried outthe October 30 blasts—worst terror strike in theNorth east. In January2007, the ULFA killed morethan 60 Hindi-speaking mi-grant workers, of whommost were from Bihar.Currently, ULFA operates outof bases in Bangladesh andis hosted by its equivalentof the ISI—the Directorate-General of Forces Intelli-gence. by Sandeep Unnithan

Khan, a mobster fromKolkata who shifted base to Karachi and shuttles between Bangladesh,Pakistan and the MiddleEast. Khan founded theAsif Raza Commando Forcewhich carried out the attack on the American Center in Kolkata in 2001before founding the IMthree years ago. The HUJI-and LeT-affiliated groupwas divided into variousmodules—the Shahbuddinbrigade for strikes in southIndia and the Ghori brigadefor attacks in the north.Key members like AtifAmeen were given trainingin weapons and explosivesat LeT camps in Pakistan.One of the modules led byAmeen, executor of theDelhi blasts was neutra-

lised in the Batla House encounter in Delhi whilethe media module whichsent out detailed e-mailsafter each strike, wasrounded up in Mumbai andPune. But with key opera-tive Abdus Subhan akaTauqir on the loose alongwith a dozen other IMmembers, including Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Delhi plottersRiyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal,the IM retains the potentialto strike back at a place ofits choosing.

Founded in 2005Chief AMIR RAZA KHAN Attacks Varanasi, Delhi,Jaipur, Ahmedabad in 2008.

The largest terrorist outfitoperating in Jammu andKashmir, the HuM wasfounded as the militantwing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, reportedly at the be-hest of the ISI to counter thepro-independence stance ofthe Jammu and KashmirLiberation Front. The HuM

favoured Islamisation ofJ&K and its integrationwith Pakistan. Its activitieshave so far remained con-fined to the Valley thoughthe arrest of members fromKerala indicates that thegroup may be reaching outto the rest of India as well.

Founded in 1977Chief SAFDAR NAGORIAttacks Provided logisticalsupport in 2006 Mumbaitrain blasts

Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM)

Hizbul Mujahideen(HuM)

Indian Mujahideen(IM)

THE first home-grown terror network not onlycarried out a string of attacks in Jaipur, Ahmeda-bad and Delhi this year,killing over 100 personsbut is believed to have beenbehind practically everyother bomb attack since2005, including theMumbai train bombingsand attacks in Hyderabadand Varanasi. It wasfounded by Amir Raza

Students IslamicMovement of India(SIMI)

The UnitedLiberation Front of Assam(ULFA)

Very high risk High risk Significant risk Low risk

HAFIZ MSAEED

MAULANAMASOODAZHAR

SYED SALAHUDDIN

SAFDAR NAGORI

PARESH BARUA

MOHD.TAUQIR

Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islam(HuM)

AP

AP

AP

PAWAN BHAWAR

SAFDAR NAGORI