Literally meaning "Army of the Pure", the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has proved to be the most brutal terrorist group presently active in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It has been in the focus for two reasons. First, for its well planned attacks on security force (SF) targets in the State and second, for the dramatic massacres of non-Muslim civilians. After the Kargil fiasco (when Pakistani troops and mercenaries, including those of the Lashkar, were forced to withdraw from peaks on the Indian side of the Line of Control - LoC), the outfit launched its 'suicide attacks' strategy whereby small groups (2-5 members) of fidayeen (suicide squads) would storm a security force camp or base. In another frequently used strategy, groups of Lashkar mercenaries, dressed in SF fatigues, would arrive at some remote hill village, round up Hindu or Sikh civilians, and massacre them. These two strategies have been designed to achieve maximum publicity and extract public allegiance, mainly out of fear.

In the first few suicide attacks launched by the outfit, the attackers entrenched themselves inside the camp, killing as many SF personnel as they could, before they were themselves killed. In one such instance, two Lashkar fidayeen stormed an SF base at Wazir Bagh in Srinagar, on March 26, 2001, and killed four personnel before being killed. In a few cases, members of the squad successfully fled after the initial attack. This happened at Mendhar in Rajouri district, on December 16, 2000; and at Mahore, Udhampur district, on November 5, 2000.

The first of Laskar's suicide attacks was targeted at a residential complex of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Bandipore, Baramulla district, on July 13, 1999. The most spectacular of these missions was the attack on the headquarters of the Special Operations Group (SOG) on December 27, 1999. An officer, nine personnel and the two Lashkar Fidayeen were killed. Earlier, a suicide squad of the outfit had targeted the BSF camp in Handwara, Kupwara district, on September 4, 1999. An SF personnel was killed and two others injured before all three members of the squad were killed.

Even after the LeT’s J&K chief Abu Muwaih was killed on December 30, 1999, suicide attacks continued with three such attacks having been conducted in 2000 (on Surankote Army camp, January 1; Rashtriya Rifles base in Anantnag, January 12 and a BSF Camp in Srinagar, March 21).

More than the number of casualties inflicted on the security forces, the psychological impact of these attacks has helped project the image of this group. This is because SFs have resorted to extensive use of heavy fire, destroying their own buildings in the process, and causing deaths of their own men in friendly fire in each of the attacks.

Later, as SF units began taking precautions against these attacks, the Lashkar too changed its strategy, concentrating on launching the attack and then escaping. This sharpened the psychological impact since the attackers were able to escape and the outfit’s spokesmen would provide grossly exaggerated versions of the incident. On April 13, 2001, two Lashkar fidayeen stormed into an SF base at Lassipora in Kupwara. They killed four personnel, including an officer, and injured nine others, before escaping. Later, two more SF personnel died of injuries suffered in the attack. Two months later, in the same district, two SF bases were stormed in separate attacks by Lashkar fidayeen, on July 15, at Magam and Shahlal. A total of five SF personnel were killed and 13 others injured while the fidayeen managed to escape without any casualties. In a major operation, two Lashkar terrorists infiltrated into the Army base at the Red Fort in Delhi on December 22 and killed three SF personnel before escaping.

LeT terrorists have perpetrated several massacres of non-Muslims in different parts of the State. Among the various Pakistan - sponsored terrorist outfits operating in the State, the LeT has been primarily involved in massacres mainly because the puritanism of this outfit’s cadre is characterised by a level of brutality, which surpasses that of all other outfits. Some of these, such as the Chattisinghpora massacre of 35 Sikhs on March 20, 2000, have been carried out in tandem with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM).

While some have been timed to coincide with peace initiatives, others have been random attacks. Thus, while the Chattisinghpora massacre was perpetrated a night before the then US President, Bill Clinton, began his official visit to India. Similarly, a series of five massacres, two in Anantnag district, two in Doda district and one in Kupwara district, in which more than a 100 people were killed on August 1 and 2 was perpetrated on the eve of negotiations between the Union government and the Hizb. The latter had declared a cease-fire on July 24 which was operational until August 8, 2000. The LeT and all other terrorist outfits had opposed the Hizb initiative.

The massacres of non-Muslims in Kashmir had begun in 1988 when 23 people were killed in Wandhama on January 23. A second instance is the June 19, 1998 - massacre in which 25 members of a wedding party in Doda were killed. The extreme level of cold-blooded brutality, which sets Lashkar-e-Toiba apart from other terrorist organisations that operated in Kashmir before, is evident in the Wandhama massacre, where children as young as one year were murdered along with scores of women and defenceless men.

The outfit received a major setback on March 28, 2001, when Salahuddin, a 'divisional commander' of the outfit and responsible for planning and executing over a dozen attacks by fidayeen, was killed in an encounter at Pohru in Budgam district. Despite facing several setbacks, including frequent elimination of cadre in SF operations, the outfit has managed to dominate the Pakistan - sponsored terrorist network in J&K. Following a threat issued by the outfit against those providing supplies to SF units in the State, a delegation of these contractors visited Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a senior leader and former chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) known to have close links with terrorists in the State. Syed Geelani responded, on March 28, by promising to appeal to the outfit to lift the ban.

The Lashkar-e-Toiba is the terrorist arm of the Markaz-ud-Dawa-Wal-Irshad (MDI), an Islamic fundamentalist organisation of the Wahabi sects in Pakistan. With an estimated strength of 300 terrorists and headed by Mohammed Latif, the LeT operates in the Srinagar Valley and the districts of Poonch, Rajouri and Doda. The outfit also runs training camps at Kotli, Sialkot and Samani in Pakistan Controlled Kashmir. Its professed ideology goes beyond merely challenging India's sovereignty over the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lashkar's rhetorical agenda, as outlined in a pamphlet titled Why are we waging jihad includes the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India.

The Lashkar's entry into Jammu and Kashmir was first recorded in 1993 when 12 Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries infiltrated across the Line of Control in tandem with the Islami Inquilabi Mahaz, a terrorist outfit based in Poonch district of the State. Though LeT cadre were gradually inducted in the succeeding years, it was after 1997 (Nawaz Sharief’s second term as Prime Minister of Pakistan) that the Lashkar rose in the priority of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Evidence of official patronage from Pakistan came in the form of the then Information Minister, Mushahid Hussain's visit to the LeT headquarters in Muridke near Lahore. He was accompanied by the governor of Pakistani Punjab province, Shahid Hamid, and a host of Provincial Ministers.

The increasing importance of this group came about after the ISI decided on shifting the focus of insurgency from the Kashmir Valley to the Jammu region. This was part of the ethnic cleansing strategy, and since most minority communities of the State were concentrated in the Jammu region, this necessitated the intensification of insurgency in the region.

The LeT was an ideal instrument for the ISI in this campaign. Indoctrinated in orthodox terrorist Islamic ideals, LeT cadre (largely Pakistanis and Afghans) had no qualms in perpetrating massacres of minorities in the State. Thus, after 1997, there has been a rise in insurgent activity all along the border districts of Jammu, particularly in the districts of Poonch and Doda.

The rise of the Lashkar in ISI’s priorities is also due to the Pakistani Punjab base of the outfit. This helps easy mixing by LeT terrorists with the local population of Jammu, who are linguistically allied with Punjab. Thus, the outfit is an ideal instrument for the ISI's ethnic cleansing strategy in the Jammu region.

Lashkar cadre, unlike other terrorists, prefer to die in an encounter with SFs rather than get caught. For instance, in 1997 the largest group of terrorists killed in clashes with the security forces belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba.