Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps

The Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps, run by the Islamist militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba are presently located at a number of locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. These camps, which include its base camp, Markaz-e-Taiba in Muridke near Lahore and the one near Manshera, are used to impart training to militants. In these camps, the following trainings are imparted[1][2]:

Contents

Markaz-e-Taiba

The LeT base camp Markaz-e-Taiba in Muridke was established in 1988. It is spread over 200 acres (0.81 km2) of land.[3] The initial sectarian religious training, Daura-e-Sufa is imparted here to the militants.[4] Markaz-e-Taiba is now under direct control of Punjab govt after Mumbai attacks.Khaqan babur is appointed administrator of Markaz-e-Taiba by provincial govt.

Other training camps

In 1987, LeT established two training camps in Afghanistan. The first one was the Muaskar-e-Taiba at Jaji in Paktia Province and the second one was the Muaskar-e-Aqsa in Kunar Province.[5] American intelligence analysts justify the extrajudicial detention of at least one Guantanamo detainees because they allege he attended a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp in Afghanistan.[6] A memorandum summarizing the factors for and against the continued detention of Bader Al Bakri Al Samiri asserts that he attended a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp.

Mariam Abou Zahab and Olivier Roy in their Islamist Networks: The Afghan-Pakistan Connection (London: C. Hurst & Co., 2004) mentioned about three training camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the principal one is the Umm-al-Qura training camp at Muzaffarabad. Every month five hundred militants are trained in these camps. Muhammad Amir Rana in his A to Z of Jehadi Organizations in Pakistan (Lahore: Mashal, 2004) listed five training camps. Four of them, the Muaskar-e-Taiba, the Muaskar-e-Aqsa, the Muaskar Umm-al-Qura and the Muaskar Abdullah bin Masood are in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Markaz Mohammed bin Qasim training camp is in Sanghar District of Sindh. Ten thousand militants had been trained in these camps till 2004.[7]

Trainers

A French anti-terrorism expert, Jean-Louis Bruguière, in his Some Things that I Wasn’t Able to Say has stated that the regular Pakistani army officers trained the militants in the LeT training camps till recently. He reached to this conclusion after interrogating a French militant, Willy Brigitte, who had been trained by the LeT and arrested in Australia in 2003.[8][9]

Raids on training camps

On December 7, 2008, Pakistani army raided a training camp of the LeT at Shawai Nullah, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir. The army arrested more than twenty members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, the suspected masterminds of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks attacks.[10][11]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ Raman, B. (December 15, 2001). "The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET)". South Asia Analysis Group. http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers4/paper374.html. Retrieved 2008-12-06. 
  2. ^ Swami, Praveen (December 2, 2008). "A journey into the Lashkar". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/02/stories/2008120259961000.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 
  3. ^ Mir, Amir (December 2, 2008). "India may target Muridke to avenge attacks". The News. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=18732. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 
  4. ^ Dholabhai, Nishit (December 28, 2006). "Lid off Lashkar’s Manipur mission". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061228/asp/guwahati/story_7192271.asp. 
  5. ^ Rao, Aparna, Michael Bollig & Monika Böck. (ed.). (2008) The Practice of War: Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence, Oxford: Berghahn Books, ISBN 978-1-84545-280-3, pp.136-7
  6. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Bader Al Bakri Al Samiri Administrative Review Board - March 7, 2005 - page 75
  7. ^ Noorani, A.G. (January 03-16, 2009). "Pakistan’s burden". Frontline. http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20090116260108400.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
  8. ^ "Pakistani Army ran Muslim extremist training camps: Anti-terrorist expert". Daily News and Analysis. 14 November, 2009. http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_pakistani-army-ran-muslim-extremist-training-camps-anti-terrorist-expert_1311559. Retrieved 23 November 2009. 
  9. ^ Bremner, Charles (14 November, 2009). "Pakistani Army ran Muslim extremist training camps, says anti-terrorist expert". Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6916408.ece. Retrieved 23 November 2009. 
  10. ^ Naqash, Tariq and Syed Irfan Raza (December 9, 2008). "Operation against LeT-Dawa launched in AJK". Dawn. http://www.dawn.com/2008/12/08/top3.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 
  11. ^ Subramanian, Nirupama (December 8, 2008). "Shut down LeT operations, India tells Pakistan". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/09/stories/2008120960721300.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-10.