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Lashkar-e-Jabbar

The existence of Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LJ) was first reported by the local media in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2001 following two incidents. In the first incident, two unidentified youth poured diluted acid on two school teachers in the Khanyar area of Srinagar on August 7. The next day, an armed terrorist threatened all students and teachers of a girls school in Srinagar of violence unless they adopt ‘Islamic’ dress codes. Following these, an unidentified person is reported to have informed the local media in Srinagar that his outfit, the Lashkar-e-Jabbar was responsible for these attacks. He added that the outfit meant "business in implementing the Islamic dress code in Kashmir". According to their interpretations, Muslim women must always wear the burqa in public. News reports in the aftermath of this information have also claimed that these attacks were preceded by isolated incidents of firing by unidentified terrorists on unveiled women in south Kashmir in the past two months which left three women injured.

Following this, the outfit was also reported as having fixed September 1, as the deadline for acceptance of its dress codes. The abrupt resurgence of this issue prompted an older outfit, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), which too projects identical goals, to join the ‘movement’. Supporting the LJ’s demands, the DeM appealed to the former for a postponement in the deadline. The LJ responded promptly by postponing the deadline to September 10. Meanwhile, the outfit also released a statement on September 8, asking non-Muslim women to wear identifying marks such as ‘bindis’ on their foreheads or saffron duppatas or to dress in yellow clothes.

Though these developments found little attention in the mainstream press, the impact of the LJ’s orders were effective with newspapers reporting a major scramble among Muslim women to get burqas stitched as also brisk sales of black fabric. A news report on September 9 also claimed that about 30 per cent of working women in the State’s major towns were seen using burqas as compared to an estimated five per cent who used these before the LJ’s announcement. In the light of such a response, the outfit also added a new order that all public transport vehicles must have half a section reserved for women to ensure that there is complete segregation between male and female passengers.

For an outfit that has cornered publicity on a large scale, little is known of its origin or character. There has only been speculation. Some news reports speculate that it is a creation of the DeM, which had failed in the early Nineties when it attempted to force women to accept Islamic dress codes. Another news report claiming to cite intelligence reports submitted to the Prime Minister said that the outfit was promoted by other terrorist outfits to make the use of burqas widespread and consequently to use these for launching attacks on security forces. These intelligence reports have reportedly added that Lashkar-e-Jabbar was also receiving overt and covert support from the Pakistan-based Haqqania Madrassa, which in turn was funded by wealthy Pakistanis and other Muslims living in West Asian countries. The Haqqania Madrassa is also reported to have secured support from the Saudi terrorist, Osama bin Laden, currently based in Afghanistan. Laden is also suspected to be aiding the Lashkar-e-Jabbar.

Most terrorists outfits active in the State, including the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) have reportedly condemned the outfit. While the LeT, on August 12, claimed that the aim of those involved in such activities is to malign the outfit (LeT), the Hizb, on the same day, claimed that there was no terrorist outfit existing in the name of Lashkar-e-Jabbar and the activities being carried out in their name signified a deep conspiracy against the ‘Kashmiri freedom movement’. Softening this stance, the Hizb, on September 10 released a statement saying that the LJ will be seen as a ‘suspect group’ until it is proven that it is part of the ‘Jihadi movement’ in Jammu and Kashmir. Another terrorist outfit, the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM), which first criticized the LJ, later changed its stance on September 10, and welcomed the outfit's activities.

The All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) too has condemned the use of coercive measures to implement ‘Islamic values’. Several other Islamic organisations in the State are also reported to have denounced the "coercive tactics" to make women wear veil, by saying that Islam does not permit any use of force to implement dress codes. These organisations include Jamiat-Ulema Hind, Jamiat-e-Islami Hind and the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat.

Security force sources, meanwhile, were cited by news reports on September 10 as saying that patrol and deployment of plainclothesmen were being increased in view of the Lashkar-e-Jabbar’s threat. The State Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was also reported to have taken a serious note of the Lashkar-e-Jabbar threats and has warned police officials that they would be liable to action in case any incident of acid-throwing occurred in their jurisdiction. State security officials were also reported as considering the option of a massive crackdown on the DeM, in view of the suspected links between the two outfits.

A loose robe worn over their clothes which covers the whole body and the face is covered with a veil

 

Incidents

2003

January 19: According to a media report, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI) asked Muslim women to quit jobs in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police and has set January 25 as the deadline, failing which they would "face serious consequences". The threat was reportedly issued through a poster the group pasted at a mosque in Shahdra Sharief, Rajouri district. It also said all Muslim girls should get married after they reach the age of 15 and should desist from taking bath in the open in rivulets. The poster, issued by the 313 HuJI brigade, based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), "directed" Imams (priests) to make an announcement to "implement the order effectively". As reported earlier, a similar threat was issued earlier this month (January) by the lesser-known Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LeJ) terrorist outfit.

January 14: According to a media report, the Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LJ) has asked all non-Muslim doctors working in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir to leave the State within 10 days. A poster bearing the signature of the group was found at an unnamed hospital in State capital Srinagar.

2002

December 25: According to a media report, the Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LeJ) has circulated posters directing Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to follow a set of guidelines, just as the Taliban militia had done in Afghanistan. The circulars have reportedly appeared at an Under Graduate College in Rajouri town directing women to wear burqas (veil) and men to wear caps and grow beards, keeping with 'Islamic traditions'. Muslim women have also been asked to desist from going to educational institutions, have a male escort while going out of the house and also sit separately from men in buses, the report added. The outfit has also warned the people against defying their diktat. The LeJ group had earlier too issued directions in this regard but these had failed to evoke any significant response.

September 11: Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) spokesperson Salim Hashmi said, that no dress code could be imposed on women in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). He also reiterated doubts that were expressed by certain other terrorist outfits on the existence of the Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LJ). According to Hashmi, "No organisation of this name exists at the base camp or in the field."

The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) condemned the acid throwing incidents in Jammu and Kashmir and claimed that 'Indian agents' were involved in such incidents. In a statement released on September 10 from Muzaffarabad, HuM Chief Maulana Farooq Kashmiri said such acts were un-Islamic and there was no such outfit in J&K as the Lashkar-e-Jabbar.

September 11: Unidentified assailants reportedly accosted a woman and doused her with coloured water in Srinagar, as she was not wearing a burqa (veil). The attack was apparently carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jabbar (LJ). As reported earlier, the LJ had announced that it would attack women who did not confirm to the Islamic dress code they had issued. SFs arrested a youth from the vicinity soon after the incident. Local residents, however, alleged that the youth was not involved in the attack and the two youth who carried out the attack had escaped.

September 10: Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir intensified field-surveillance and patrolling in the State as the deadline announced by the Lashkar-e-Jabbar for women to adhere to their version of 'Islamic dress code' closed. The outfit had announced that beginning September 10 it would violently punish women who violated their directives.

The outfit came into prominence after it reportedly threw acid on two women in Srinagar, on August 7, and announced that it would launch an operation to ensure that women adhere to a dress code it prescribed. The outfit has also ordered non-Muslim women in the State to use specific identifying marks such as wearing yellow dress and placing 'bindis' (dots) on their foreheads and wearing saffron duppatas (long piece of cloth).

2001

August 7 2001: A new outfit, the Lashkar-e-Jabbar claimed it is enforcing Islamic dress code on the people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and warned non-compilers. An activist of the outfit sprinkled acid on two women who were not wearing a burqa at Khanyar in Srinagar. The two suffered minor injuries. Later, a spokesman for the outfit informed local journalists that his outfit was responsible for the attack and would continue to attack people not adhering to their dress codes.

 

 

 

 

 
Copyright © 2001 SATP. All rights reserved.