From LeT’s Muridke terror camp to White House

A day after two former terror operatives were appointed by the Trump administration in the religious liberty commission, more details have emerged about their involvement in participating in the Lashkar-run terror camps in Pakistan against India.

In 2001, the duo Ismail Royer and Shaykh Hamza, travelled to Muridke in Pakistan for training and were part of attacks carried out against security forces and civilians. The two along with others were part of the Virginia jihadi network, busted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, post the 9/11 attacks, according to a US justice department indictment.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is banned in India and the United States, and has been involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which more than 170 people were killed, including six Americans. The group recently claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack through its proxy The Resistance Force (TRF), which was later denied. As many as 25 Indian and a Nepalese citizen were killed, triggering a kinetic response from the Indian armed forces.

“Royer admitted to aiding and abetting co-defendants Masoud Khan, Yong Ki Kwon, Muhammed Aatique and Khwaja Mahmoud Hasan in gaining entry to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, where they trained in the use of various weapons. Royer also admitted to helping co-defendant Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi (Shaykh Hamza) gain entry to the Lashkar-e-Taiba camp, where Al-Hamdi received training in the use of a rocket-propelled grenade in furtherance of a conspiracy to conduct military operations against India,” reads a 2004 indictment by the US DOJ.

During the 2004 US indictment, “Royer acknowledged that he committed his offences to help other jihadists gain entry to the Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp following a meeting on Sept 16, 2001, at which an unindicted conspirator said that the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001 would be used as an excuse to trigger a global war against Islam, and that the time had come for them to go abroad and, if possible, join the mujahideen.”

The US indictment sentenced Royer to 20 years in prison and Al-Hamdi to 15 years which means the two were supposed to be released in 2024 and 2019, respectively. However, the two pleaded guilty and were released early, leading to their appointment in the US liberty commission, said officials pointing to their role in terror activities against India.