Washington, Jan 31 (IANS) Western societies, media, and governments remain largely short-sighted on “jihad terrorism”, failing to understand or effectively confront its depth, motivations, and evolving tactics in Pakistan and beyond, a report said on Saturday. Taking advantage of the situation, Pakistan has been backing terror groups on its territory that indulge in territorial expansionism, ethnic cleansing, and wider regional Islamisation.
“Many Westerners view jihad terrorism through narrow lenses like foreign policy grievances or isolated incidents, rather than as an ideologically and religiously driven phenomenon. This leads to inadequate counter-terrorism strategies and even possibly aiding and abetting terrorism-breeders, such as Pakistan. This myopia will continue to harm international security until Western foreign policy towards jihad terrorism and its supporters drastically changes,” Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut wrote for American media outlet ‘PJ Media’.
She stressed that terror groups enabled by Pakistan’s military and security establishment continue to pose a grave security threat across South Asia.
“The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), for instance, is a registered political party in Pakistan. It was established in 2023 as the latest political front associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a UN-designated terrorist organisation, under the UN’s ISIS and Al-Qaida Sanctions (Resolution 1267),” Bulut stated.
“Headquartered in Lahore, PMML promotes an Islamist agenda. They contested the 2024 general elections by fielding over 200 candidates nationwide, including prominent figures in constituencies like Lahore and Karachi, but secured no seats,” she added.
According to the report, key PMML leaders include Talha Saeed, son of UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), along with other associates from the LeT network.
Another terror group, the Resistance Front (TRF), has gained increased popularity in Pakistan.
Emerging in 2019–2020, TRF is a jihadist terror outfit operating as a proxy front for LeT and deliberately projected as a “local, secular resistance” group to mask its Islamist roots and to evade global terror scrutiny after Pakistan came under increased pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog
“The Resistance Front is designated as a terrorist organisation by India. Furthermore, the United States in 2025 designated TRF as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organisation’ and ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ entity, explicitly stating that the TRF is a front and proxy of LeT. This designation reinforced long-standing intelligence assessments that TRF is not an independent group but part of LeT’s adaptive terror infrastructure,” it noted.
The report stated that the scale of support extended by Pakistan’s intelligence agency (ISI) to the terror groups operating on its soil is deeply “alarming”.
Citing a report of the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), it said, “Pakistan also plays a key role in funding these terrorist organisations. As per reports, the yearly expenditure of ISI towards the terrorist organisations runs between 125-250 million USD, covering salaries, cash incentives for high-risk operations and retainers for guides, porters and informers.”
–IANS
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