Jhang: The Epicenter of Jihadi Organizations in Pakistan

Jhang is small city in Punjab Pakistan considered to be the epicenter of Jihadi organizations in the country. Home to terrorist outfits such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which is formed in 1996 after Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) activist Riaz Basra broke away from the SSP over differences with his seniors.

 Though Basra himself was killed in a crossfire in 2002 when an attack he was leading on a settlement near Multan failed but today his organization is the biggest terror outfit in the country involved in attacks from Benazir Bhutto home arrival parade, which was the biggest in the history of the country in terms of number of people it has killed to attacks on French technicians and American oil workers.

 The biggest victim of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorism is the city of Karachi where almost all the terror attacks are conducted by the banned terror outfit. They are also said to have ties with the Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Al-Qaeda, and Jundallah.

 The organization has also tried to assassinate Former PM Nawaz Sharif when he was in office. Security forces of Pakistan has achieved some major successes in the battle against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi but still Punjab government needs a strong political commitment to end woes and raiding their safe havens from Southern Punjab to bring an overall peace in the country.