Riaz Basra (?-2002)
Last modified: 24 June 2008
Lionel Baixas
June 2008
Cite this item
Lionel Baixas,
Basra (?-2002), Riaz, Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, [online], published on 24 June 2008, accessed 8 February 2012, URL : http://www.massviolence.org/Basra-Riaz-2002, ISSN 1961-9898
Former chief of the Khalid bin Walid Unit of Afghan Mujahideen in Afghanistan, he was a founder, along with Akram Lahori and Malik Ishaque, of the breakaway Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; Army of Jhangvi), and became its chief commander until he was killed on May 14, 2002. The LeJ was allegedly created as its founders believed the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) was deviating from the ideals of its slain co-founder,
Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, and that these ideals ought to be implemented by force. The basic aim of LeJ, banned since August, 2001, is to impose a Sunni State, primarily through violent means, and it targets systematically Shias.