Ahrar ul Hind ( ur, احرار الہند; lit. ''freedom fighters of India'') was a militant Islamist group in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

that split from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in February 2014. During peace talks between the Pakistani government and TTP, Ahrar-ul-Hind issued a statement to the media rejecting the talks, and announcing that they would not accept any peace agreement. Following its initial announcement, the group claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Pakistan, including the

Islamabad court attack On 3 March 2014, gunmen attacked District Courts Complex in Sector F-8 of Islamabad, Pakistan. Eleven people were killed and twenty-five people were injured as a result of the attack. History The assailants arrived at the courthouse around nin ...

, before merging into the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group in August 2014.

Etymology

The group's name literally means ''freedom fighters of India'' (referring to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

as a whole). According to a commander of a Taliban group, the group derived its name of "Ahrar" from Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam, because the Ahraris were against the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan; they, rather, believed that the entire subcontinent was their homeland. The commander said that the group planned to expand their operations to the remaining part of the subcontinent.

Split from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

The group mostly contained Taliban from Mohmand Agency's Tribes, with some members from the Punjabi Taliban based in

southern Punjab South Punjab may refer to: *the southern part of the region of Punjab in South Asia *South Punjab (region), an historic region in the 8th–9th centuries; see Timeline of Pakistani history *two proposed provinces in this region in Pakistan: **Sara ...

. Many of its members are based in eastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. While the group claimed to have split from the TTP because of opposition to peace talks with the government and after advice from a certain Paracha saab (a patwari of note), some observers believed the group was used by the TTP to carry out deniable attacks without disrupting the cease fire talks.

Relations with TTP

The Pakistani government made disowning Ahrar-ul-Hind a condition of the TTP for peace talks to continue, while simultaneously carrying out airstrikes on Ahrar-ul-Hind bases. In response, the Taliban announced a ceasefire and accepted the condition of dealing with Ahrar-ul-Hind. After this announcement, the group claimed an attack on the Islamabad High Court in March 2014. In August 2014,

Omar Khalid Khorasani Omar Khalid Khorasani (real name: Abdul Wali Mohmand; died 7 August 2022) was a militant and one of the founding members of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In 2014, he formed his own splinter militant group called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and w ...

merged Ahrar-ul-Hind with other dissident TTP commanders into a new group called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, formally splitting away from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in September 2014.

References

External links

{{War on Terrorism Taliban Islam-related controversies Islamist groups Islamism in Pakistan Jihadist groups affiliated to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Jihadist groups in Afghanistan Jihadist groups in Pakistan 2014 establishments in Pakistan

Etymology

Split from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

Relations with TTP

See also

References

External links