From rallies to AI propaganda: LeT, JeM plot more lethal comeback, target 10,000 recruits

New Delhi, Dec 30 Two of Pakistan’s most favoured and powerful terror groups, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, will keep their focus not just on re-grouping but building stronger outfits in the coming year, intelligence agencies have learnt.

The year 2026 would be majorly about re-grouping and also making the outfits doubly lethal, an officer said.

Both these groups were hit the hardest during Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian armed forces to avenge the Pahalgam attack.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the re-grouping and strengthening would take place in phases.

The biggest setback that has hit these groups is on the recruitment front. Operation Sindoor has exposed both these groups, and their vulnerabilities were on public display after they suffered immense losses.

An analysis done by these groups showed that they are lacking heavily on the recruitment front.

Carrying out an attack on India on a large scale seems difficult and risky at the moment, and hence they would not indulge in any major adventure for now, officials said.

In the first phase of this exercise, both the Jaish and the Lashkar have planned massive rallies across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). This is an attempt to garner public support in huge numbers.

The rallies are also aimed at telling the people about the importance of having such strong groups to counter India. An official said that these rallies are being planned at a time when the anti-India sentiment in India is at an all-time high.

These groups hope that if these rallies are able to drive their message loud and clear, then more youth would join their terror groups, officials point out.

Agency officials say that the aim is to recruit over 10,000 youth into their fold.

Once this drive is completed, the next plan is to conduct training camps across the country. The major camps would be conducted in Balakot, Bahawalpur, and Muridke. All these targets have been hit by India.

The idea of having these camps here is to send a message to India and also convey to the recruits that they are not scared post Operation Sindoor.

Officials add that in the process of building stronger terror groups, the Jaish and the Lashkar would also indulge in a lot of theatrics. They want to earn back the respect that they lost post the Indian operation.

During Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces destroyed the Jaish headquarters at Bahawalpur and the Lashkar's primary training facility in Muridke.

During this rebuilding programme, there would also be a very strong emphasis on the all-women units of both these terror groups.

These are very ambitious projects for these terror groups, and adding women units will only strengthen them further, officials say.

Women would be trained in radicalisation, recruitment and propaganda. There would be a select few who will be trained as suicide bombers.

These terror groups plan on using these women in Jammu and Kashmir. Both groups are also building an all-women network of overground workers (OGWs) in Jammu and Kashmir.

While there would be a lot of work that would be carried out on the ground, intelligence agencies also warn about the plans that these groups have for their online programme.

Such programmes would be conducted on a huge scale online, whereby the propaganda would be the focus.

These groups would also use Artificial Intelligence widely so that they can reach a large audience.

They would look to get their propaganda videos and material created in multiple Indian languages so that such content would not have a bigger reach, but would be personalised as well, officials say.

An official with the Intelligence Bureau says that overall, it would be a challenging affair to contain such a large programme, which is being carried out jointly by these two terror groups.

The ISI too would be in overdrive mode to ensure that this programme is successful and everything is back to normal within the Jaish and the Lashkar, the official also added.

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