yolland said:
And Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is a perfect example. They have set up a fully equipped field hospital in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and have been involved in ferrying supplies into some of the most devastated areas. This is a smart, time-honored tactic of Islamist groups from Palestine to Turkey to Pakistan: where governments have proven ineffective at meeting the basic needs of the people, they step in and win the people's support with their charity.
Thats the first positive thing I hear about those people. If this is a smart tactic, it may be not so positive in the long run, however - apparently they help people where the nation-state is unable to perform that function.
Back to the topic, from wikipediia:
Lashkar-e-Toiba or Lashkar-i-Taiba (the Army of the Pure) is a Kashmir separatist group that uses terrorist strategies. It was formed in the year 1990 and is based in Muridke, Pakistan and Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The group is active in carrying out attacks on Indian armed forces and civilians in Kashmir. It is considered a well-trained armed wing of Pakistan-based Markaz Dawa-Wal-Irshad (the Centre for Religious Learning and Propagation), an organisation with Islamist views. US Secretary of State Colin Powell in a notification on December 26, 2001 designated Lashkar-e-Toiba as a foreign terrorist organisation.
Lashkar's professed ideology goes beyond challenging Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. In a pamphlet entitled Why Are We Waging Jihad? the group defined its agenda as the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India.[1]. It seems that in their view, the restoration of Secularism in India after the collapse of the Islamic rule of the Islamic Mughal Emperor of Aurangzeb was a historic wrong they seek to set right. Lashkar-e-Toiba is believed responsible for the series of attacks on August 1-2,2000, in which more than 100 people, most of who were civilians, were killed.
Lashkar-e-Toiba has an estimated strength of 300 and is believed to be headed by Mohammed Latif. It operates mostly in the Kashmir Valley which includes the districts of Baramulla, Anatnag, Ponch and Srinagar.
India accuses Lashkar-e-Toiba of practising ethnic cleansing directed against Hindu residents of Kashmir, particularly in the Jammu region. On March 20, 2000, for example, the militant group killed 35 Sikh and Hindu civilians at Chattisinghpora, among other similar incidents.
Pakistan denies responsibility for Lashkar-e-Toiba's activities, but India alleges evidence relating to its non-military wing's fund raising activities in Pakistan indicates otherwise. Recent peace efforts by the Musharraf administration have led to a crackdown of its operations in Kashmir, compelling it to change name to Tehrik-e-Furqan.
