'Defunct' Jaish, 'extinct' Lashkar: Why Pakistan’s diplomatic vocabulary is out of sync with reality

In the latest report by UN, Pakistan claimed that terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is “defunct”. This isn’t the first time the country has made such claims in the past Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is “extinct”. There is an evident pattern in these admissions. And both these terrorist groups were in discussion in 2025. An off-shoot of LeT, The Resistance Front (TRF) was in involved in the dastardly attack in India’s Pahalgam that claimed innocent lives. These were people who were tourists exploring Kashmir’s Baisaran meadows with their families. From a young couple on their honeymoon to families on a vacation, they all lost their loved one. This incident numbed India and sent shock waves internationally.

And days after the attack, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in his interview to news outlet Sky News when asked about the country supporting terrorists, he admitted that the country has been doing the “dirty work” for the United States for three decades. In the same interview, Asif also that LeT was extinct. But he did confirm that the country had been associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 'past'. He added, "Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn't exist in Pakistan anymore; it is extinct."

Validating his claims, Asif went on to say, "My dear, if the parent organisation does not exist, how can the offshoot (The Resistance Front) take birth here?" The defence minister was confidently shrugging off everything and calmly associating it with the country's past. In less than a minute later, he was seen admitting to training terrorists and doing this “dirty work for the US…West, Britain”.

India waited for a fortnight after Pahalgam attack, and on seeing Pakistan’s inaction against the terrorists operating from its soil, Operation Sindoor was launched. Four months after India’s retaliatory strikes in Pakistan and PoK, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Masood Ilyas was seen addressing a crowd and saying that Masood Azhar's family was ‘torn into pieces’ in Bahawalpur. In May, when the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor and carried out precision strikes on terrorist hubs in the neighbouring country, the ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations) said innocent civilians were killed. And now months later, this admission has come to the fore.

India launched Operation Sindoor on the intervening night of May 7 and 8, which was aimed at destroying the terrorist outfits operating on Pakistani soil. This move also came after Islamabad's inaction against the attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed 26 innocent lives. India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, in a special briefing, said, "It was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the 22 April attack be brought to justice. Despite a fortnight having passed since the attacks, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terror infrastructure on its territory or territory under its control."