Explainer: Who are JeM and what is diplomatic wrangle about Masood Azhar?

A UN Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Masood Azhar, on Wednesday.

A UN Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Masood Azhar, on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a long diplomatic impasse.

Jaish-e-Mohammed had taken responsibility for the deadliest attack on security forces in Indian Kashmir in 30 years of insurgency, ratcheting up tension between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours.

India has said the group and Azhar enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demanded that Pakistan act to stop militant groups operating from its soil.

Pakistan had condemned bomb attack in February that killed 40 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity.

India blamed Jaish for a series of attacks including a 2001 raid on its parliament in New Delhi that led to India mobilising its military on the border.

WHO ARE THE JAISH-e-MOHAMMED AND WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), or Army of Mohammed, has ties to other Sunni militant groups in Pakistan such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but U.S. authorities say it still operates there openly.

Founded in 2000 after the release of Azhar from an Indian prison in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, it has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, which is also claimed by Pakistan.

The group, which aims to unite Kashmir with Pakistan, has repeatedly caused tension between India and Pakistan. Along with LeT, it was involved in attacks in 2001 on the Indian parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly building.

Pakistan rejects Indian accusations that it harbours and sustains the group. Pakistani authorities have linked JeM with two assassination attempts on former President Pervez Musharraf in 2003 as well as the kidnap and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Business Standard