The Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has never revolted against the Pakistan establishment, is a changed outfit today. Indian Intelligence agencies have been stating that all is not well within the outfit, and the Pakistan establishment’s push to indulge the outfit in activities contrary to its ideology has only widened the rift further, the agencies have noted.
Now, the Pakistan army finds itself in a spot of bother with US President Donald Trump asking the country to be part of the Abraham Accords framework. While Pakistan has firmly rejected the call to normalise relations with Israel under the accord, it said that it would not recognise the country until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
An official said that Pakistan has a big problem to deal with after it was dragged in by the United States. Not only will it have to deal with its own people who have always stood against Israel, but handling its terror proxies is going to be a nightmare.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the Lashkar-e-Taiba has never in the past gone against the army or the ISI. Outfits such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed have on many occasions spoken a different language and gone against the system, but that has not been the case with the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Differences began setting in post-Operation Sindoor. The leadership felt let down by the establishment for failing to protect its people and facilities. The war in Afghanistan made matters worse as the outfit did not agree with Islamabad’s policy of battling the Afghan Taliban. Further, the Lashkar-e-Taiba reluctantly agreed to be part of a coalition with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in the battle against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
Another official said that the newfound bonhomie with the US has not gone down too well with the hardliners and terror groups in Pakistan. Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has bitten off more than he can chew, and this has come back to hit him hard now.
The official added that Pakistan may have firmly said no to the Abraham Accord, but it will have to continuously deal with pressure from the US President, who is unlikely to take Islamabad’s stance kindly.
Officials say that in the days to come, relations with the Lashkar-e-Taiba are only going to worsen. The terror group’s leadership will demand answers from the establishment on its relations with the US. The terror group would expect the Pakistan leadership to be more vocal about its stance against Israel, and this would irritate the Americans further, officials say.
An official said that the Lashkar-e-Taiba leadership does not care about Pakistan’s geopolitical positioning. It only believes in radical Jihad, the official added. A top leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Saifullah Qasoori, also the mastermind of the Pahalgam attack, has openly threatened to destroy whoever accepts Israel. In an open message to the Pakistan establishment, he said that the Muslim world would never recognise Israel and whoever does so will be destroyed.
He even said that Pakistan is the defence leader of the Muslim world, while Saudi Arabia is the spiritual and ideological leader.
An official said that Asim Munir clearly did not sign up for this, and neither did he expect this. The official added that handling the Lashkar-e-Taiba leadership is not easy. It has acted on everything that the Pakistan establishment has told them to. However, things are fast changing, and the ISI and army have a lot of answering to do. Looking closely at the developments, the rift is only going to increase in the days to come.
Officials also say that the rift is quite visible. On one hand, the outfit’s de facto chief, Talha Saeed, is hobnobbing with the political class. He recently met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s close aide and discussed further plans relating to Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, Qasoori has openly challenged the system and is trying to dictate what geopolitical stand Islamabad should take. These are signs of a clear rift, and in the days to come, it is only going to get worse, the official added.
