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non-Muslim civilian populations in Jammu and States to crack down on terrorist groups and to avoid
Kashmir in an effort to create a Muslim-only state. a war with India, the government of Pakistan banned
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba arose in the early 1990s as a the group and arrested its leader, Hafiz Mohammed
militant wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an Saeed, but released him a few months later.
Islamic fundamentalist organization influenced by
See also OSAMA BIN LADEN; HIZB-UL-MUJAHIDEEN;
the Wahabi sect of Sunni Islam. Many of Lashkar-e-
JAISH-E-MOHAMMED; MILITANT ISLAM; SEPTEMBER 11
Tayyiba’s members are Pakistani or Afghan. The group,
ATTACKS; STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM; TALIBAN
headquartered in Pakistan, is believed to have had ties
with Afghanistan’s Taliban government and with the Further Reading
wealthy Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden. (Fighters
from Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and another militant Muslim Allen, Mike. “Bush Orders Two More Groups’ Assets
group, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, were killed in August Frozen.” Washington Post, December 21, 2001, A24.
1998 when American cruise missiles fell on bin Babington, Charles, and Pamela Constable. “Kashmir
Killings Mar Clinton Visit to India; President Rebuffed on
Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan.)
Nuclear Issue.” Washington Post, March 22, 2000, A1.
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba made its first incursions
Bearak, Barry. “A Kashmiri Mystery.” New York Times
in Jammu and Kashmir in 1993. In the late 1990s,
Magazine, December 31, 2001, 26.
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba received greater funding from
Margolis, Eric S. War at the Top of the World: The Struggle
Pakistan and began operating in the Jammu, which for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet. Rev. and updated
has large numbers of non-Muslim minorities. Working ed. New York: Routledge, 2002.
in conjunction with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e- Schofield, Victoria. Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and
Tayyiba began a program of ethnic cleansing, slaugh- the Unfinished War. London and New York: I. B. Tauris,
tering Hindus and Sikhs. 2000.
Infamous for their brutality, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba Whitlock, Craig, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran. “Pakistan
attacks were often aimed at unarmed civilians: Detains Islamic Militants: Arrests May Calm Tensions
children as young as 1 year were among 23 Hindus With India.” Washington Post, January 1, 2002, A1.
killed at Wandhama in 1998. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba mas-
sacred 25 members of a wedding party in Doda later
that same year. Beginning in 1999, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba LAUTARO YOUTH MOVEMENT
conducted a series of suicide attacks against Indian
security forces, often targeting seemingly secure head- aka Lautaro Faction of the United Popular Action
quarters. In such attacks, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba forces Movement (MAPU/L), Lautaro Popular Rebel
Forces (FRPL)
have been outnumbered and eventually killed, but not
before killing Indian troops and causing extensive
damage. In March 2000, 35 Sikhs were killed in Named for a famous Araucanian Indian warrior,
Chattisinghpora; five months later Lashkar-e-Tayyiba the Lautaro Youth Movement (MJL) is a militant
members staged eight attacks that left roughly Chilean leftist group that became active in the 1980s.
100 people dead, most of them Hindu civilians. Now said to be largely disbanded, the MJL has been
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba had a falling out in 2000 with linked to robbing banks, killing policemen on the
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, which had declared a short-lived beat, and attacking Mormon churches.
cease-fire with India. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba lost more The movement was formed as a splinter of the
allies in 2001, after the September 11, 2001, attacks political party United Popular Action Movement
on the United States led to the removal of the Taliban (Movimiento de Accion Popular Unitario; MAPU).
government in Afghanistan by American-led military The breakaway group called itself the Lautaro
forces and the targeting of bin Laden. Faction of the MAPU Party, and developed a separate
On December 13, 2001, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba under- youth movement, the MJL, and a militia, the Lautaro
took its most daring action, launching a suicide attack Popular Rebel Forces. A major goal of the MJL and
on India’s parliament complex in the capital, New its sister organizations was to overthrow the Pinochet
Delhi, in conjunction with Jaish-e-Mohammed, regime.
another militant group. In response, the United States After Chile returned to democracy in 1990, the MJL
froze the U.S. assets of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, calling it a continued its militancy. On April 29, 1992, the MJL
terrorist organization. Under pressure from the United assassinated Domingo Sarmiento, a member of the