Azhar was released as a pre-condition for releasing 155 Indians passengers on board of Indian Airlines flight which was hijacked by terrorist organisation Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, on the way to Delhi from Kathmandu in 1999.
Later on, in 2001, Masood Azhar's terrorist organisation was blamed for the attack on Indian Parliament which had almost brought India-Pakistan at the brink of war. After the attack, the Vajpayee government had ordered heavy deployment of Indian forces along the India-Pakistan border.
Since then JeM has been found responsible for more deadly attacks like the attack on India Air Force base at Pathankot in early 2016, attack on Indian army camp at Uri (Jammu and Kashmir) in 2016 and finally the most gruesome suicide attack in the history of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 killing over 40 security personnel.
The JeM chief who was earlier associated with Harkat-ul-Ansar and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir in 1994 for spreading terror in the state. He remained in Indian custody for five years.
Masood had initially worked under Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen but later on got the support of Taliban and Osama bin Laden in establishing his own organisation - raised primarily with the twin objectives of “destroying India” and “Liberation of Kashmir”.
Since one of the stated objectives of the Jaish-e-Mohammed is to secede Kashmir from India and make it a part of Pakistan, it has the support of Pakistan’s intelligence establishment. According to the sources, JeM has its headquarters in Bahawalpur in Punjab province which also houses the headquarters of Pakistan Army's 31 Corps.
No comments:
Post a Comment