Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ) is a Sunni Deobandi sectarian armed group established in 1996440 as a separate militant wing of SSP.441 While in the past LeJ was a vigorous group conducting high-profile attacks targeting the Shia community,442 it was severely weakened in more recent years443 following internal rifts, defections and security operations.444 According to Zia Ur Rehman, a Pakistan-based journalist who was interviewed by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in early December 2024, most of the LeJ's leaders have been killed.445 The group shifted its focus to smaller-scale targeted killings. In 2025, the LeJ’s structure remained fragmented, and the group continued to show limited operational capabilities, claiming sporadic attacks in Punjab, Sindh, and KP.446 A 2023 estimate presented in the former CIA World Factbook put the group’s strength at a few hundred members.447 According to Rehman, as of late 2024, LeJ operated in Quetta (Balochistan), Karachi, parts of Punjab (including Lahore), and in KP’s Kurram and Peshawar districts.448 For further information, see section 3.2.10. Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ) of the EUAA COI report Pakistan - Country Focus (December 2024).
- 440
PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 43
- 441
International Crisis Group, A New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan, 5 September 2022, url, p. 2
- 442
PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 43
- 443
Dawn, Islamabad atrocity, 7 February 2026, url; Canada, IRB, Pakistan: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan [Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan] (SSP) / Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat [Ahl-e-Sunnat-wal-Jamaat] (ASWJ) [Rah-e-Haq, Rah-i-Haq party (PRHP)], Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Army of Jhangvi] (LeJ), and Tehrik-i-Taliban [Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban] (TTP) militant groups […] (2022–December 2024), 2 January 2025, url
- 444
PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 43
- 445
Canada, IRB, Pakistan: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan [Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan] (SSP) / Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat [Ahl-e-Sunnat-wal-Jamaat] (ASWJ) [Rah-e-Haq, Rah-i-Haq party (PRHP)], Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Army of Jhangvi] (LeJ), and Tehrik-i-Taliban [Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban] (TTP) militant groups […] (2022–December 2024), 2 January 2025, url
- 446
PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 43
- 447
US, CIA, World Factbook – Terrorist Organizations, n.d., url
- 448
Canada, IRB, Pakistan: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan [Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan] (SSP) / Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat [Ahl-e-Sunnat-wal-Jamaat] (ASWJ) [Rah-e-Haq, Rah-i-Haq party (PRHP)], Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Army of Jhangvi] (LeJ), and Tehrik-i-Taliban [Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban] (TTP) militant groups […] (2022–December 2024), 2 January 2025, url