Tuesday’s Ayodhya attack is a deadly reminder of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s core ideology — it goes well beyond opposing India’s sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the Lashkar’s agenda, as outlined in a pamphlet titled, ‘Why Are We Waging Jihad’, includes the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India. The terrorist group started out as a wholly owned subsidiary of ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence outfit. But over the years it has grown beyond its creator and is now regarded by many terrorism analysts as the successor to the Al Qaida—not as a monolithic organisation, but as a loosely constructed federation. It wants to unite all Muslim majority regions in countries that surround Pakistan. Hence, its presence in Afghanistan, J&K, Chechnya and other parts of Central Asia. The outfit has a history of executing precision attacks outside J&K, the most prominent being its suspected role in the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament and the 2002 strike on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar.
Unlike the Deobandi Jihadis, which have been split and divided again and again, the ISI has kept the Lashkar strong and united, the first splinter group didn't emerge from it until more than a decade after it's creation.
Security sources say, LeT had planned a similar in Ayodhya in 2002, but it fell apart after the militants entrusted with the task were killed in an encounter with the Delhi Police in Tughlaqabad. BSF’s senior intelligence officer, K Srinivasan, believes LeT operatives are also active in UP and Gujurat besides being spread across Jammu and Kashmir. Shahzad Ahmad alias Abu Shamas of Pakistan is the supreme operational commander of the outfit in Jammu and Kashmir. Shahzad resides in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but has a representative, Dr Zaan, stationed in Bandipora, North Kashmir, acting as operational commander these days, Srinivasan said.
The UN took the ultimate step in May of banning the LeT and all its sister concerns for its links with Al Qaida, through UN Resolution 1267 under which all states are obliged to freeze its assets, prevent its entry into or transit through their territories. The fact that this is yet to find any ground in LeT’s home base, Pakistan, has not escaped notice. Formed in 1990 in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, the Lashkar-e-Toiba is the military wing of the Markaz-ud-Dawawal-Irshad (MDI), an Islamic fundamentalist organisation of the Ahle-Hadith sect in Pakistan. Its first presence in J&K was recorded in 1993 when 12 Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries infiltrated across the Line of Control (LoC).
Ahle-Hadith = Wahabi. One of the co founders of the MDI was Abdullah Azzam, the leader of the Afghan Arabs before he was assasinated.
Compared to other terrorist outfits in J&K, LeT has commanded significant attention primarily due to two reasons. First, for its well planned and executed attacks on security forces and second, for the dramatic killings of non-Muslim civilians. But of greater concern to Indian security agencies has been the tie-up between LeT and India’s most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, which was used by the US to brand Dawood a global terrorist. The amount of LeT funding is unknown.
Dawood is a billionaire, I believe that much of the ISI's money for foreign adventurism comes from Dawood. Apparently the Lashkar gets much of its funding from the sale of sacrificial animals during the Eid festival, as well as the selling of the animal skins. Apparently it is quite lucrative.
It maintains ties to various religious/military groups around the world, ranging from the Philippines to West Asia and Chechnya primarily through the fraternal network of Jamaat ud Dawa, its re-named parent body. Next to Pakistan, where the headquarters of the LeT is located, the second most important base of the outfit is in Saudi Arabia.
As it's terrorist training infrastructure inside Pakistan hasn't been touched, it is probably responsible for the training of many of those Jihadis in Chechnya, the Philippines etc.