Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

326 • JAISH-E MUHAMMAD– J –JAISH-E MUHAMMAD (JEM). The Army of Muhammad, alsoknown as the National Movement for the Restoration of PakistaniSovereignty, is an Islamic fundamentalist and ethnonationalistterrorist group seeking to end Indian rule over the region of Jammuand Kashmir. The JEM was founded on 31 January 2000 by MaulanaMasood Azhar in Pakistan after he was released from an Indian jailin exchange for the hostages seized in the 31 December 1999 hijackingof Indian Airlines Flight 814. Azhar was also the founder of theHarakat ul Ansar group, since then renamed the Harakat ul Mujahideen.Three heads of hard-line Islamic fundamentalist theologicalschools have endorsed the JEM, which also has ties to Fazl Rahman,head of the Jamniat Ulema-i-Islam political party, who also was oneof the signatories of the 1997 fatwa of Osama bin Laden calling onMuslims throughout the world to kill Americans everywhere. Thegroup is alleged to have received help from Pakistan’s Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) as well as al Qa’eda. The group numbers around100 members and has carried out suicide bombings against Indian securityforces, Indian civilians, and foreign tourists, mainly in Jammuand Kashmir. It is considered one of the most dangerous of the variousKashmiri separatist groups, having conducted 25 attacks killing 85people and injuring 269 from October 2001 to May 2007.The group’s most notorious suicide attack was the 13 December2001 automatic weapons assault on the Indian parliament, whichkilled 14 (including the five gunmen) and injured 30, although nomembers of parliament were harmed. This incident led to deteriorationof relations between India and Pakistan. JEM’s most notorious act wasthe 23 January 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street JournalSouth Asia bureau chief Daniel Pearl, for which a JEM leader, SheikhOmar Saeed, was later convicted. Due to U.S. and Indian pressure onPakistan following the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacksof September 11, 2001, Maulana Azhar was arrested by Pakistani authoritieson 29 December 2001 but released on 14 December 2002.In 2001 the JEM attacked not only the Indian parliament but alsothe State Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir on 1 October. During theperiod 2002–2005, in addition to the kidnapping and murder of DanielPearl, the JEM carried out three other attacks, including one suicidecar bombing, killing a total of 23 and injuring 89 in that four-year