The Lashkar is the armed wing of the Markaz Dawat wal Irshad ('Centre forInvitation and Instruction'), an organisation affiliated to the Ahl-i Hadithsect, which follows a version of Islam almost identical with that of the SaudiWahhabis. It is today the single most powerful militant outfit operating inKashmir. Its involvement in Kashmir goes back to the early 1990s, when Pakistanbegan patronising radical Islamist outfits to counter the influence of the Jammuand Kashmir Liberation Front which had inaugurated the armed uprising againstIndian rule. The Front’s agenda of an independent and secular Kashmir wasclearly not to the liking of the Pakistani establishment, who saw in radicalIslamist outfits a more reliable ally, with their opposition to Kashmirinationalism and their advocacy of Kashmir’s union with Pakistan. In setting upthe Lashkar the late Abdullah Azam a close aide of Osama bin Laden, thenassociated with the International Islamic University, Islamabad, also played akey role. Funds for the organization are said to have come from Saudi Arabia andPakistan's secret services agency, the Inter Services Intelligence.