Jaish-e-Mohammed

Jaish-e-Mohammed
جيشِ محمدؐ
LeaderMasood Azhar
Supreme CommanderAbdul Rauf Azhar
Dates of operation2000–present
Allegiance Pakistan
GroupsAl-Akhtar Trust
Lashkar-e-Mustafa
HeadquartersBahawalpur, Pakistan
Active regionsJammu and Kashmir
IdeologyDeobandi jihadism
Sunni Islamism
Islamic fundamentalism
Notable attacks
StatusActive
SizeUnknown
Part ofUnited Jihad Council Operation Tupac
AlliesState allies

Non-State allies

OpponentsState opponents
WarsInsurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
Designated as a terrorist group by

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is a Deobandi-jihadist Pakistani militant group active in Kashmir. The group's primary motive is to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India and integrate it into Pakistan.

Since its inception in 2000, the group has carried out several terrorist attacks on civilian, economic, and military targets in India. It portrays Kashmir as a "gateway" to the entire India, whose Muslims it deems to be in need of liberation. It maintains close relations and alliances with the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, Indian Mujahideen.

JeM was allegedly created with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is using it to carry out terrorist attacks in Kashmir and rest of India. Due to sustained international pressure against Pakistan sponsored terrorism, JeM was banned in Pakistan in 2002 as a formality. However, the organization was never seriously disrupted or dismantled. Its arrested leaders were subsequently released without any charges and permitted to re-form under new names. Its variants openly continue operations under different names or charities in several facilities in Pakistan.

According to B. Raman, Jaish-e-Mohammed is viewed as the "deadliest" and "the principal Islamic terrorist organisation in Jammu and Kashmir". The group was responsible for several attacks: the 2001 attack on Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, the 2016 attack on the Indian Mission in Mazar-i-Sharif, the 2016 Uri attack, and the 2019 Pulwama attack, each of which has had strategic consequences for India–Pakistan relations. The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by Pakistan, Russia, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the United Nations.