Al-Badr (Jammu and Kashmir)

Al-Badr
اَلْبَدْرْ
leadersArfeen Bhai
Jasniel Rihal
Bahkt Zameen Khan
CommanderHamzah Burhan (Chief Operational Commander in Kashmir valley)
Dates of operation1998-present
Group(s)United Liberation Front (Active in Kashmir)
HeadquartersMansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Active regionsKashmir
IdeologySeparatism
Islamism
Islamic fundamentalism
Jihadism
Part ofUnited Jihad Council and Operation Tupac
Allies Pakistan
Hizbul Mujahideen
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir
Al-Qaeda
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind
Islami Jamiat Taliba[1]
Opponents India
 United States
Battles and warsSoviet-Afghan war
Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)
Kashmir conflict
Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir

Al-Badr (Arabic: اَلْبَدْرْ, romanizedal-badr, lit.'the full moon') is an Islamist militant group operating in the Kashmir region.[2][3][4][5][6] The group was allegedly formed by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in June 1998.[2][3][4][5] It is believed the group was encouraged by the ISI to operate independently from their previous umbrella group, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM).[2][3][4][5] Prior to the group's separation from HM, they participated in the fighting in Afghanistan in 1990 as part of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-l-Islami (HIG) alongside other anti-Soviet Afghan mujihadeen.[4][5][6] India and the United States have declared it a terrorist organisation and banned it.[7][6] Pakistan has long been a difficult and disruptive neighbor of Afghanistan, increasing Afghanistan's instability by providing intelligence, weapons and security to the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network. But now Pakistan is facing strong backlash both domestically and internationally against its policy of militant sponsorship.[8]

  1. ^ Pakistan Archived 19 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Mapping Militants. Stanford University.
  2. ^ a b c "al-Badr". South Asia Terrorism Portal. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
  3. ^ a b c "Al-Badr / Al-Badr Mujahideen". Global Security. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
  4. ^ a b c d "Group Profile: AL-BADR". MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
  5. ^ a b c d "Al-badhr Mujahidin (Al-Badr)". Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). Archived from the original on 16 November 2006.
  6. ^ a b c "Chapter 8: Foreign Terrorist Organizations" (PDF). U.S. State Department. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2024. Media related to File:State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations.pdf at Wikimedia Commons
  7. ^ "List of Banned Organisations". Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI. Government of India. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". cato.org. Archived from the original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)