Regardless of whether Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT), now operating under the name Jama'at Ud-Da'wa, did have a pivotal role in the Mumbai attacks, the group nevertheless poses a severe threat to India and the rest of the world. Though traditionally the group's theater of conflict is considered to be in Kashmir and executing terrorist attacks against Indian targets, LeT must be treated as a global, rather than local, concern. With close ties to al-Qaeda, a strong foreign membership, extensive financial and operational resources, and a globalized ideology that demonizes the West as well as India, LeT remains a world-wide threat.
Despite being based in Pakistan, LeT attracts a wide variety of jihadists from numerous countries and has a clear desire to transmit its propaganda to a global audience. Under the Jama'at Ud-Da'wa name, which the group adopted following its official banning in Pakistan, LeT operates at least five websites in Urdu, English, and Arabic and runs an online chatroom called Dawah Radio. In addition to producing material in Urdu, the group publishes magazines in English and Arabic. LeT also maintains a website with hundreds of anasheed (Islamic songs) and sermons praising jihad. LeT has not taken credit for the Mumbai attack on the Jama'at Ud-Da'wa website; however, it should be noted that LeT has never claimed official responsibility for attacks believed to have been carried out by the group.
Cover of Zerb-e Toiba, November 2008
LeT also solicits donations for the group online, under the aegis of Jama'at Ud-Da'wa. The group maintains that the proceeds will serve to provide aid, relief, and medical support to the disaffected and destitute in Pakistan. Prospective donors can easily wire money to the group through bank accounts published in the group's propaganda, despite having been designated a terrorist entity by the US Treasury. This fundraising is problematic. In the UK, officials investigated whether Jama'at Ud-Da'wa, under the guise of a charity, might have partially financed the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
Credit: BBC
The themes of the propaganda distributed in LeT's media overlap with al-Qaeda's own rhetoric. Echoing the statements, trope, and ideology of al-Qaeda, LeT justifies and encourages a world-wide violent jihad, characterizing the United States and its allies as working together in a unified front to destroy Islam and Muslims. Jama'at Ud-Da'wa's official website reported that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder and head of LeT, stated at an October sermon in Lahore that “there is an ongoing war in the world between Islam and its enemies. [Saeed] said it is not a matter of terrorism or peace; the fact is that crusaders of the east and west have united in a cohesive onslaught against Muslims.” Abdullah Muntazir, the spokesman for Jama'at Ud-Da'wa, wrote on the group's website in November that “America is the leader of the war unleashed against Islam, [and] it is therefore also the one which is most affected...when Muslims decided to fight back in response to the brutal war imposed upon them by America and its allies.” With such rhetoric found on the group's websites and propaganda, it is not surprising that LeT has been blamed for numerous terrorist attacks.
Perhaps more than any jihadist group other than al-Qaeda, LeT has attracted individuals from all over the world to its military training camps in Pakistan. Jihadists from the US, Canada, Australia, France, and the UK, as well as China, the Maldives, and Kuwait, have received training at LeT's camps. For instance, David Hicks of Australia first received training from LeT camps before moving on to fight with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Several of the convicted individuals involved in the so-called “Paintball” cell in Virginia received training at LeT camps in Pakistan before returning to the United States. Indeed, one of the individuals was asked by LeT to “case a chemical plant in Maryland,” according to the FBI.
Court Sketch of Jahmaal James
Credit: theglobeandmail.com
Syed Haris Ahmed of Atlanta, arrested for making casing videos of landmarks in Washington, DC, also attempted to travel to a LeT training camp while in Pakistan. However, Jahmaal James, an acquaintance of Ahmed from Canada who was one of the 17 individuals arrested in 2006 for planning attacks against targets in and near Toronto, did manage to travel to Pakistan and receive training from LeT. Both Ahmed and James were in communication with an individual affiliated with LeT known as Abu Umar, who recruited the two through online forums and met Ahmed and James in Pakistan upon their arrival.
French citizen Willie Brigitte received training with LeT and was then allegedly sent by the group to Australia in 2003 to join the cell of Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistani-Australian convicted in 2006 for preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia. Elsewhere, allegations emerged that Abdul Rahman, a Chinese national from the Uighur province of Xingjang arrested in January of 2000, had been recruited to train LeT operatives in India.
Investigations into the first Islamist terror attack in the Maldives in September, 2007 also revealed apparent ties to LeT; one of the attackers, Moosa Inas, spent time at Jamia Salafiyya in Faisalabad, Pakistan, a seminary whose graduates include several LeT leaders. And in Kuwait, according to the US Treasury Department, Lashkar-e-Taiba set up offices with the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS), a designated terrorist entity which “provided office space to an LeT leader who visited Kuwait… RIHS officials accompanied the LeT leader while he raised funds throughout Kuwait. As of late 2007, RIHS sent money to LeT elements on a monthly basis.”
Because of the group's broad recruiting base and functional training camps, LeT produces dangerous individuals who have the capability and desire to plot attacks not only in Kashmir and India, but also countries outside LeT's traditional scope. While coalition forces have succeeded in putting pressure on training camps in Afghanistan, LeT's camps remain operational inside Pakistani territory and can provide would-be jihadists from virtually any country with the knowledge and experience to mount attacks. LeT is not just an Indian and Pakistani problem, but a global one.