Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (; HUM) is a Pakistan-based Islamist jihadist group operating primarily in Kashmir. The group had links to Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.
The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation<!-- see link for inclusion of national bodies --> by Bahrain, the United Nations, the United Kingdom and the United States. In response the organisation changed its name to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The group splintered from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), a Pakistani group formed in 1980 to fight the Soviet military in Afghanistan.
According to The New York Times, Osama Bin Laden's seized cellphones attest Harkat-ul-Mujahideen's continued contact with Osama Bin Laden and its bases and fighters shared with the Taliban over the years following the war in Afghanistan.
Designation as terrorist organisation
The countries and organisations below have officially listed the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) as a terrorist organisation.
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|14 October 2005
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|25 September 2001
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Soon after its founding, several members of its leadership were arrested by Indian Security Forces. In November 1993, the former head of HuM, Nasrullah Mansur Langrayal, was arrested. In February 1994, the HuA general secretary, Maulana Masood Azhar and chief commander, Sajjad Afghani, were captured in the Chattargul area of Anantnag district. The ban severely limited the funding of the group, and as a result HuA was reorganised as a reincarnated Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. At the time, Azhar split from the group to form Jaish-e-Mohammed. In 1998, U.S.'s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its report stated, "HuA, an Islamic terrorist organisation that Pakistan supports in its proxy war against Indian forces in Kashmir, increasingly is using terrorist tactics against Westerners and random attacks on civilians that could involve Westerners to promote its pan-Islamic agenda." CIA also stated that Hua had abducted at least 13 persons, of which 12 were from western countries in the period from early 1994 to 1998.
See also
- List of Deobandi organisations
- 1995 kidnapping of Western tourists in Kashmir
- Ansar Al-Mujahideen
- Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
- Jaish-e-Mohammed
- Hizbul Mujahideen