Evading Scrutiny, Spreading Mayhem: How Jaish-e-Muhammad Chief Maulana Masood Azhar is Crafting Chaos in Kashmir

Evading Scrutiny, Spreading Mayhem: How Jaish-e-Muhammad Chief Maulana Masood Azhar is Crafting Chaos in Kashmir

Maulana Masood Azhar, the founding leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad (Army of Muhammad—JeM), a Pakistan-based terrorist group blamed for violence against India over the past two decades—including the latest vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) targeting a security convoy. On February 14, 42 paramilitary force personnel were killed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway near the town of Awantipora, Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Muhammad fidayeen (suicide attacker) Adil Ahmed Dar (a.k.a Waqas Commando) ambushed the security convoy with an explosives-laden vehicle (The Tribune, February 15). The latest event led India to carry out air strikes targeting JeM’s terror training camps in Balakot (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province), Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad (Pakistan-Administered Kashmir) on February 26 (Times of India, February 26).

Evidently, India blames JeM’s founding leader Masood Azhar and his core commanders based in Pakistan, including Abdul Rauf Asghar and Yusuf Azhar (a.k.a Ustad Ghauri), for masterminding the Pulwama suicide attack. Both Yusuf Azhar and Abdul Rauf are relatives of Azhar and played active roles in the December 1999 Indian Airlines hijacking crisis that ended with the safe passage of the imprisoned JeM chief. [1] India has submitted a dossier to Pakistan on February 27 with specific details of JeM’s involvement in the Pulwama attack and the presence of the group’s leadership and flourishing terror-training camps in Pakistan (India Today, February 27). Amid the rising tension between the two neighboring countries, the Punjab provincial government in Pakistan has taken control of the Jaish-e-Mohammad run mosque, Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah and a seminary, Madressatul Sabir in Bahawalpur (Dawn [Karachi] February 22). However, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asked India for credible evidence of Azhar’s involvement in the Pulwama suicide attack while admitting to his presence in Pakistan (The Indian Express, March 1).

Born and raised in Bahawalpur in Punjab province, Pakistan, Masood Azhar founded JeM in late January 2000 in Karachi with the broad objectives of overthrowing Indian “occupation” of Kashmir; merging Kashmir with Pakistan; and the expulsion of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

After splitting from the parent terrorist groups of Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Azhar and JeM unleashed a wave of terror attacks in J&K and beyond. The group became infamous for introducing foreign fighters and fidayeen attacks into the Kashmir conflict. They were responsible for the April 2000 suicide attack in the Badamibag Army Cantonment; the October 2001 attack on the J&K Assembly in Srinagar; and the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament in the national capital of New Delhi.

Azhar—who along with Abdul Jabber was accused of plotting assassination attempts on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 and in January 2004—maintained a low profile for several years in Pakistan. Since the group was banned in 2002 in Pakistan, Masood Azhar and his jihadist coterie attempted to reinvigorate their militant campaigns (recruitment, fund raisings, etc) by renaming the group Khuddam-ul-Islam (KuI), Tehrik ul-Furqaan (TuF), al-Rahmat Trust (ART)—to name a few—as educational and religious charity centers (Terrorism Monitor, November 11, 2011). The latest offshoot of JeM is “al-Murabitoon” which is engaged in organizing Islamic discourse and debate competitions in schools and colleges in Pakistan. JeM leaders distributed prizes for the winners, including swords bearing the name of Masood Azhar as the “Ameer of Mujahideens” (Zee News, January 4, 2018). The many incarnations of JeM were obviously aimed at evading national and international scrutiny in order to raise funds and recruits for jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

After years of being mostly confined to his hometown of Bahawalpur where the headquarters of JeM is located, Azhar’s voice again reverberated with the call for jihad in Kashmir in February 2014. In an address to a Kashmir rally in Muzzafarabad (Pakistan-Administered Kashmir) Azhar reportedly said that “there are 313 fidayeen in this gathering and if a call is given the number will go up to 3,000.” (India Today, February 19, 2014). Days before this public address in early 2014, Azhar and JeM’s core commanders formed a suicide squad, the “Afzal Guru Squad,” named after the Parliament attacker Muhammad Afzal Guru (The Tribune, October 7, 2017). Several attacks in Kashmir thereafter were blamed on the squad, which was led by a close confidante of Masood Azhar, Mufti Waqas, who recruited local youths for jihad in Kashmir. Masood Azhar also sent his nephews to Kashmir to work with these local recruits. Talha Rasheed, one of his nephews, died in an armed encounter at the Kandi Aglar village of Pulwama district in November 2017. A U.S.-made gun was recovered following the shootout, and is suspected to have been procured from Afghanistan (Kashmir Dispatch, November 7, 2017).

Azhar’s JeM is also credited with introducing sniper attacks in J&K. Another nephew of Azhar, identified as Usman Haider, was the deputy chief of this sniper squad, and was killed on October 30, 2018 (Indian Express, October 31, 2018). It is evident now that the latest Pulwama suicide attack was carried out to avenge the deaths of Masood Azhar’s nephews (Mumbai Mirror, February 17).

While each and every militant formation in Kashmir, including Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), continue their efforts to remain relevant in the crowded insurgent field of Kashmir, JeM has carved out a niche for itself by introducing daring tactics to stay ahead of the curve. With intermittent violence to keep the flag of jihad high in Kashmir, Azhar, along with his close family members and field commanders, has directed JeM militants to carry out a series of violent and audacious terror attacks. Similar to the recent Pulwama suicide bombing, JeM in 2016 carried two violent strikes targeting security forces that made international headlines and almost brought two nuclear powered neighbors to the brink of war—the January 2 Pathankot, Punjab, air base attack that resulted in the deaths of seven security force personnel and the September 18, Uri, Kashmir, attack in which nearly 18 security personnel were killed (News18.com, January 2, 2016; WION News, September 18, 2016). In the aftermaths of these attacks, Pakistan authorities briefly detained Masood Azhar, his brother Mufti Abdul Rauf along with other close aides. However, these detentions in the guise of interrogations remain largely symbolic.

Since 2007, it appeared that JeM’s direct operational rein has been resting on Azhar’s relatives such as Abdul Rauf Asghar and Yusuf Azhar, whereas Azhar remains JeM’s spiritual head and mostly relegated to propaganda, fundraising, and indoctrination of recruits (Times of India, April 22, 2007). Apparently, Azhar, while keeping a low profile, actively engages in revitalizing JeM and encouraging the rise of a new generation of militants. Due to his intellectual sympathies, especially in matters of jihad and Islam, he has long been closely associated with the Afghanistan Taliban and al-Qaeda. Though not physically fit for any battlefield actions, Azhar spreads and maintains immense clout through his speeches and sermons at mosques and at Kashmiri fundraising rallies. He remains strong and effective as a firebrand speaker and eloquent writer on Islam and jihad through publications such as al-Qalam (in Urdu) and Rangnoor (English).

Through his outreach, Azhar makes it clear that he has sacrificed his own relatives for the cause in Kashmir. This narrative has been used to incite youths to take up arms against India. His writings are full of anti-Hindu and anti-Semitic hatred as he attempts to justify violence against the enemies of the Muslims, “the Jews and the Polytheists,” by citing the Quran. Masood Azhar, who has been writing under the pseudonym Sa’adi, blames Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the increasing atrocities against Muslims in India (Rangnoor, July 20, 2017). He threatened both the right-wing leaders of India with consequence while criticizing present Pakistan governments. “O Modi, O Yogi the Muslim blood is very precious. Extirpation of the Muslims is impossible. If only one real Muslim ruler comes in Pakistan, you can be taught a lesson in three to four days” (Rangnoor, July 20, 2017). In one his writings he urged Indian Muslims to avenge all atrocities by sacrificing their life and to increase their passion for jihad. He also advises not to depend upon traditional weaponry for waging jihad. He wrote, “there is no need of any bomb, bullet shot, gunpowder, gun, rocket launcher or training; People launch big operations with the help of cars, electricity, petrol, fertilizers, grains of sand and pesticides” (Rangnoor, September 2017).

In the aftermath of the Pathankot terror events in early 2016, a Pakistani commentator compared Azhar with Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb warlord and convicted war criminal, suggesting that the Pakistan government should stop protecting militant leaders on its own soil and hand them over to India as a friendly gesture in exchange for better bilateral ties. [2]. However, multiple attempts by India to get custody of Azhar or to designate him as a global terrorist in the past were thwarted by Pakistan and China, respectively. The government of Pakistan often tags India’s attempt to ban Masood Azhar at the UN as a “politically motivated proposal aimed at covering its (India’s) own subversive activities in Pakistan” (Daily Times, January 2, 2017). Intriguingly, amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama suicide event, there has been a renewed clamor again around the world to designate Azhar as a global terrorist under the United Nation Security Council.

Notes

[1] Animesh Roul, “The Jihadi Demagogue: A Profile of Maulana Masood Azhar of Pakistan”, Militant Leadership Monitor, Vol 4 (3), September 2013.

[2] Dr Haider Shah, “Can Azhar be Pakistan’s Mladic?”, Daily Times, January 16, 2016, https://dailytimes.com.pk/95914/can-azhar-be-pakistans-mladic/