Fazlur Rehman Khalil

Who is Fazlur Rehman Khalil?

Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil is a founder of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and current leader of Ansar-ul-Umma, which is accused of being a front organization of the banned HuM.

Khalil was a signatory of Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa called the International Front Against Jews and Crusaders.

He stepped down as emir of HuM in February 2000 and his second-in-command, Farooq Kashmiri, assumed leadership of the group.

In May 2004, Pakistani authorities arrested Khalil for helping transport Pakistani militants into Afghanistan. After six months he was released due to lack of evidence. After Hamid and Umer Hayat reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in June 2005 that they had received training at an Al Qaeda camp run by Khalil, he went into hiding.

In March 2006, eight assailants dragged Khalil and his driver from a mosque in Tarnol, about three miles northwest of Islamabad. He was held for five hours, beaten and left in front of a mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad.

At the behest of the Musharraf government in 2007, Khalil was among a group of clerics who attempted to negotiate an end to the Red Mosque standoff.

The New York Times reported in June 2011 that Khalil lived freely on the outskirts of Islamabad and continues to maintain links with the Pakistani Army.