Over the last couple of months, Intelligence agencies have been picking up information relating to the revival of the Lashkar-e-Taiba — a terror outfit that was badly struck by the Indian Armed Forces during Operation Sindoor.
It is a well-known fact that groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have been struggling to re-group owing to many factors that include dejection, disappointment and the lack of traction among the youth.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba, which remains Pakistan’s most favourite proxy, is, however, coming up with newer strategies that are clearly aimed at deception. One day, it speaks about raising a women’s wing, and on the other hand, it announces that it would be recruiting children to train them early into becoming terrorists.
Over the last few weeks, the focus has been on training terrorists for sea-borne attacks against India. The outfit has reportedly handed over this job to the Pakistani Markaz-e-Muslim League, which is the political wing of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD). The JuD is the financial arm of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which carried out the Mumbai 26/11 attacks.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that there is no doubt that the Lashkar-e-Taiba is indulging in all these activities. However, the scale at which they claim that these activities are taking place is slightly doubtful. These are clear mind games that the ISI is playing to confuse the Indian agencies.
Such announcements and the circulation of videos relating to their activities keep the Indian agencies guessing. This acts as a deception and diversionary tactic, the official said.
The official also added that whether it is true or not, it is something that cannot be ignored. The Lashkar-e-Taiba is capable of carrying out a sea-borne attack, and one got to witness that in Mumbai. While the outfit is capable of carrying out all these activities and has done so in the past, in the current situation, it would not be able to do so on such a scale.
The ISI has been investing a lot of resources into the outfit, which includes a hefty amount of funds. However, these activities are being carried out quietly and on a much smaller scale since they would not want the Indian Armed Forces to strike them down again, another official said.
Officials say that the current focus remains on recruitments and infiltrations. The infiltrations have become a tough affair for Lashkar-e-Taiba as there is heavy security at the borders.
Since the recruitments have been hard in recent times, the outfit has started to put up fake banners to lure the youth. When the outfit wanted to start its sea-borne training course, it put up posters across Pakistan stating that training is being given for water rescue and swimming. The posters are being put up under the names of fake organisations, and this has led to many youth falling for it.
It is only in due course of time that they realise what the real purpose of the training is. Some stick on, while many also leave, an official said.
In addition to trying to deceive the Indian agencies, such reports also help the outfit in furthering its propaganda. In order to attract the youth, the outfit has to make big announcements.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba has also been using Artificial Intelligence to create fake videos relating to the training programmes. If ten are undergoing training, the videos would depict over 100 being trained.
Although the strategy is clear, the Indian agencies are taking no chances.
“We do not want to take anything lightly, although we are aware that most of what comes out of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba is a lot of hype,” an official said.
