Revision as of 11:16, 15 February 2019

Pakistan’s sword arm

2016: ISI instigates two Jaish factions

The Times of India, May 27 2016

Behind ISI's renewed India terror offensive: Tale of 2 Jaish factions

Rajshekhar jha  Investigations conducted by Indian intelligence agencies point towards a pattern linking a failed attack in Delhi in mid-December, the Pathankot attack on January 2 and the two attacks on the Indian consulate and mission in Afghanistan on January 3 and March 2, respectively.

All these strikes bear the stamp of two Jaish factions -Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Jaish ul Haq (JuH). TOI had reported on May 26 about Jaish's failed attack in Delhi in mid-December.

Sources say ISI has been pitting the two Jaish factions against each other and pressuring them into targeting Indian installations to prove their worth. While JeM is headed by Maulana Masood Azhar, JuH is led by Maualana Abdul Rehman (MAR). Both are connected to the IC-814 hijacking of 1999. Rehman orchestrated the hijack while Azhar was freed in exchange for passengers. According to an intelligence report, this approach is resulting in back-toback strikes. The theory is further nailed by the timing of the strikes, origin and background of operatives and their targets -all of whom are India-centric, sources say. The ploy to “divide and counterpoise“ is a time-tested ISI strategy, sources say, indicating that ISI was di rectly involved in the opera tions. Sources say the confes sion report of two Jaish ter rorists, Ahmed Khan Durra ni and Abdul Qadri, who were arrested by Kabul poli rested by Kabul poli ce in March, has opened a can of worms, revealing how Pakistan is pro viding both the Ja ish groups with in frastructure to run their training camps. The duo said they were trained at an ISI-operated trai ning camp in Bare Khyber Pankhutnkhwa.

There is a reason as to why Jaish is in focus after a long gap. At a time when mo vements of groups like Lash kar-e-Toiba and jihadist Ha feez Saeed are being watched closely, Jaish has proven to be ISI's trump card. As the ISI and Pakistan army escalated their attempts to target an Indian establishment outside J&K after PM Narendra Modi's Lahore stopover last year, the two factions of JeM emerged as a strategic choice for them.

While it is difficult for ISI to distance itself from LeT strikes, they are more comfortable doing so where Jaish is involved due to a lack of direct evidence connecting the two.

Jaish's revival is being considered dangerous for Delhi and other metro cities.Unlike the Lashkar and other outfits, Jaish's fidayeens are far more organised and more lethal. The Indian agencies are hoping they can nip in the bud the outfit's fresh attempts.

Massod Azhar: A brief profile

The Times of India, Dec 20 2016 

Masood Azhar, a brief profile; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Dec 20 2016

The National Investigation Agency's chargesheet against Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar comes days ahead of Dec 31, the day China's refusal to back India's move in the UN to get the terror kingpin declared a global terrorist, is set to lapse.Here's how Azhar -in Delhi's list of 50 most-wanted terrorists -masterminded attacks on Indian soil

Who is Masood Azhar?

The jihadist became a household name in India in Dec 1999 when he was freed from Kot Balwal jail in return for 155 passengers held hostage on Indian Airlines flight IC814 that was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.