A new report posted by the Middle East Forum warns that a collection of terror networks and their Islamist partners headquartered in Texas, are using U.S. politicians, institutions, and nonprofit infrastructure to advance violent, radical ambitions. With political attention over-focused on Islamist movements from the Middle East, these South Asian Islamist networks have, until now, operated freely amid a dearth of scrutiny.
According to reporting by Sam Westrop, Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was sentenced to life in prison by an Indian court in 2022. Despite his incarceration, JKLF’s operations continue with support from activists in Texas.
Texas-based leadership: The JKLF’s activities in the U.S. are managed by Dallas-based Raja Muzaffar, who served as the “acting chairman” until 2026.
- Through groups like the Kashmir Global Council, Muzaffar collaborates with Texas institutions and radical activists.
Partnerships with local institutions: The JKLF has formed alliances with prominent Texas institutions and individuals to further its cause.
- In 2025, Southern Methodist University appointed Dr. Rick Halperin to lead the “Justice for Yasin Malik Campaign.”
Islamist connections: The JKLF often partners with Islamist groups, strengthening its network and influence.
- In 2025, a joint event with Ghulam Nabi Fai honored JKLF’s founder, Amanullah Khan, highlighting ongoing ties with radical elements.
What’s next: Across the state, a collection of terror networks and their Islamist partners are using US politicians, institutions and nonprofit infrastructure to advance violent, radical ambitions.
Westrop reported Muzaffar and other JKLF leaders partner with Islamist operatives. In 2025, Muzaffar and other JKLF leaders organized a joint event from Dallas with Ghulam Nabi Fai of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum to honor the late terrorist leader and JKLF founder Amanullah Khan.
Previously, Amanullah Khan oversaw a terror campaign against Indian targets, carried out, as admitted by Khan himself, by “militants” trained at terror camps in Pakistan in collaboration with the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s terror-tied intelligence agency. Later, in 1984, Khan reportedly kidnapped and murdered an Indian diplomat in the British city of Birmingham. In the 1990s, Khan explicitly refused to renounce violence against Indian targets and moved his JKLF operations to Pakistan.
Participants in the Dallas event praised the JKLF terror leader’s “legacy of resistance and unity.”
Alongside senior JKLF officials, leading American-Kashmiri Islamist activist Ghulam Nabi Fai spoke at the Dallas webinar. Fai has long been involved with the violent Jamaat-e-Islami movement and its American proxies. In 2011, federal prosecutors charged Fai with serving as an agent of the Pakistani government. Fai, prosecutors proved, accepted $3.5 million from Pakistani intelligence to influence American policy on Kashmir.
Sam Westrop says Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood marked an important step in the state’s fight against Islamism. With the terror designations of CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood Texans now need to take the next steps in dismantling the Pakistani and Kashmiri networks across their state.
