Database: Identifiers of Designated Islamic Terrorist Organizations

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

Designated as terrorist by: Australia, Canada, European Union, United Kingdom, United Nations, United States

Base of operations: Pakistan

Background: Mapping Militant Organizations (Stanford)
Background: South Asia Terrorism Portal

Named for the late Sunni cleric Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; "Army of Jhangvi") is a virulently anti-Shiite terrorist group operating in Pakistan. In the 1990s, it broke away from the militant organization Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which Jhangvi had founded, objecting to SSP's softening approach to Shiites. However, some analysts believe that the split was largely superficial and consider LeJ to be the armed wing of SSP. LeJ's goal is to transform Pakistan into a fundamentalist Sunni state consistent with the worldview of the Deobandi revivalist movement in South Asia. After Islamabad reversed its previous support and cracked down on SSP and LeJ, they responded with assaults on Pakistani leaders and institutions, even attempting to assassinate the prime minister in 1999. Perhaps the chief driver of sectarian killings in the country, LeJ puts special emphasis on attacking Iranian nationals and interests inside Pakistan. Christians and non-Deobandi Sunnis are other targets. LeJ has well-established ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, collaborating with them both before and after 9/11. It detonated a car bomb outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi in 2002.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Flag