JAISH-E-MOHAMMAD’S NEW FACE
People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), the newest frontal face of terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) under the supervision of Maulana Masood Azhar, on May 5, 2023, claimed responsibility for terror attack in which five Indian Army personnel were killed and a Major has been injured in forested Kandi area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.
In sheer audacious move, PAFF claimed that it had thrown a bait on April 20 to prepare for the ambush:
“How easy to goad you into ambush sites and killing zones. How predictable your every move was…How easy to exploit your volatile and over-excitable behavior. We threw a bait on April 20 with that ambush to draw you into jungle. Jungle that we have finely prepared for a long time. And you did exactly what we expected you to do!Everything that happens right now we win for we have shown the world that we are standing against you…You walk into our ambushes. We kill you we win…The World knows we are here Right now even if we die we still win for we have given life to our cause and the whole World will know it…”1
Earlier, PAFF claimed responsibility of another terror attack on Indian army on April 20, in which five army soldiers were killed in Bhatta-Durian in Poonch (J&K). Unfortunately, the attack was on the Army truck that was carrying eatables for the local Muslims for whom the Army had organised an Iftar party during the Holy month of Ramadan.2 PAFF was declared a terror organisation in the month of January, 2023, by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. In a notification, the Ministry stated that PAFF has been regularly issuing threats to security forces, political leaders and civilians working in Jammu & Kashmir from other States. The PAFF, along with other organisations, is involved in proactively conspiring both physically and in social media to undertake
violent terrorist acts in J&K and major cities in India, it said. Along with other organisations, the PAFF is indulging in the radicalisation of impressionable youth for recruitment and training in handling guns, ammunition and explosives. The group has also been involved in terrorism. It has committed and participated in various acts of terrorism in India.3
The PAFF is believed to have come into existence after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. PAFF had released a video in October 2021 after the killing of nine soldiers in the Poonch-Rajouri belt of J&K. In June, 2019, PAFF took responsibility for killing a municipality councilor, Rakesh Pandita from the Tral area of south Kashmir.4
Jaish, the ‘mother terror organisation’ has created several fringe outfits apart from PAFF, like Kashmir Tigers, and J&K Ghaznavi Force, all banned by Indian Government.5Consequently, Jaish is the primary player in the entire terror scenario, and it keeps on taking new identities or forming sub-terror groups, all with the aim to target India and its security forces.
Interestingly, it is an open secret that headquarters of JeM is in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The campus consists of Madrassatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah. The campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and 600 students were studying in it.6 The state machinery of Pakistan is infamous for playing hide and seek with international community when it comes to dealing with terror masterminds and their organisations. Therefore, following 9/11 JeM was ‘banned’ in 2002, following which it spilt into two: Khuddam ul Islam and Jamaat ul Furqaan. Again in 2003, both these were banned in Pakistan. In an eyewash, the two are known as JeM. According to 2019 reports, the Jaish has been trying to destabilise India in all possible ways, be it a plan to attack India through sea-routes or through training of Rohingyas.
In the month of September, 2019, it was reported that least 50 JeM terrorists were trained in deep-sea diving to attack Indian Security Forces (SFs) deployed at sea. Lieutenant General SK Saini, GOC-in-C, Army Southern Command, confirmed that he has received inputs that there may a terrorist attack in the southern part of India. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh said, “We have received intelligence (input) that an underwater wing of Jaish-e-Mohammed is training people to carry out attacks from water and that is one change. But we are fully prepared and will thwart any such attempt”.7 The August, 2019, report by the India’s Border Security Force (BSF) revealed a nexus between Jaish and members of Rohingya Muslim community. According to the report, JeM handlers based in Pakistan have been radicalising Rohingya Muslims. Apparently, JeM commander Saber Ahmed, in Pakistan, was targeting Rohingya Muslim community members in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh and radicalising them to carry out anti-India activities. A terror camp for providing training to Rohingya was set up in Harinmara Hills in Bangladesh. For this purpose, Jaish activated its sleeper cells in Bangladesh with the help of Pakistan’s ISI.8
Correspondingly, various reports also suggest that Jaish-e-Mohammed is gathering ‘fund’ in Pakistan for Jihad during Eid celebrations in 2023. Jaish openly sought funds in Peshawar and other cities. According to local residents, operatives of JeM were reportedly seeking funds for carrying out Jihad in Kashmir and Palestine in Bagh-e- Naran, a suburb on the outskirts of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in April, 2023. Surprisingly, several Pakistani Twitter users have since pointed out that quite a few of these fund-raisings had been a regular feature at many mosques, sometimes under the protection of security personnel. There were other Twitter statements showing terrorist groups openly seeking funds in mosques in Karachi, Sindh.9
However, these ‘fundraising’ incidents for Jihad have not occurred for the first time. Various terror organisations, including Jaish-e-Mohammad, Taliban etc have been
infamous for gathering finances from local populace of Pakistan. In the year 2019, Jaish was involved in fundraising activities through its weekly journal ‘alQalam‘, published from Peshawar by Talha Saif, the head of its propaganda wing.10
Since the Kandahar hijack incident of 1999 and release of Maulana Masood Azhar by India, the JeM has formulated into a deadly terror organisation trying to continue the legacy of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Recently, the heinous incidents of Uri, Pulwama, Pathankot Airbase showcases the violent fervour of its cadres and militants, relentlessly working and renovating itself to attack India.
The threat posed by the Jaish-e-Mohammed to India’s national security has been a persistent issue that requires continued vigilance and action. Reports from 2019 indicate the group’s attempts to destabilize India through various means, including attacks on the Indian security forces and the radicalization of the Rohingya Muslim community. The recent incidents of fundraising for Jihad, carried out by the group in Pakistan, only serve to highlight the continued threat posed by the group. It is clear that the Jaish-e-Mohammed has evolved into a deadly terror organization, continuing the legacy of its predecessors and unrelentingly working towards attacking India. The Indian security forces must remain vigilant and prepared to thwart any attempts to undermine India’s national security, and the international community must work together to counter the threat posed by terrorism.
1 https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/rajouri-attack-jem-s-front-face-organisation-claims- responsibility-kandi-area-forest-in-jammu-and-kashmir-2023-05-05-8690622 https://www.thestatesman.com/india/jaish-offshoot-releases-pictures-of-poonch-terrorist-attack- 1503175519.html
3https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0LoquRDDSEsJ:https://www.thehindu.com/new
s/national/govt-bans-paff-a-proxy-outfit-of-jaish-e- mohammed/article66347897.ece&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in
4 https://thekashmirwalla.com/newborn-militant-outfit-releases-video-on-poonch-gunfight-army-calls-it- propaganda/
5 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jammu/jaish-arm-paff-claims-poonch-ambush-with-captioned- photos/articleshow/99769210.cms?from=mdr 6https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1456541/pakistan
7 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/50-jaish-terrorists-training-in-deep-diving-may-launch-attack-on- india-via-sea-bsf-sources-1597267-2019-09-09
8 https://zeenews.india.com/india/pakistans-isi-backed-jem-radicalising-rohingya-muslims-to-carry-out- attacks-in-india-warns-bsf-2230187.html
9 https://thedailyguardian.com/india-wary-as-jaish-members-collect-funds-in-pakistan-for-jihad/
10 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/jaish-e-mohammed-still-raising-funds-in-pakistan-despite- crackdown-reveals-india-today-probe-1475471-2019-03-11
