Hizb-ul-Mujahideen

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is one of the largest militant Muslim groups operating in the disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir—both are claimed by India and Pakistan. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen supports the integration of Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan, a Muslim country where the group is headquartered. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is unusual among Muslim groups in that many of its members are native Kashmiris, rather than foreign militants. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has been linked to the vicious massacres of non-Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir in 1998 and 2000. Although the group has continued to embrace violence, it has more recently reached brief cease-fires with India.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was founded in the late 1980s as a militant wing of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic political party. The group was reportedly backed by Pakistan's intelligence agency as a counterforce to the secular, proindependence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen members received training in terrorist camps in Afghanistan.

For years, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen ...