NEW DELHI: The discomfiture of jihad groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba with the Islamic State lies in the organization's contemptuous dismissal of them as al-Qaida allies who are puppets in the hands of the Pakistan army which itself is an “apostate”, and therefore, illegitimate force.In its online magazine ‘Dabiq’, the IS runs down LeT and some other anti-India groups active in Jammu & Kashmir for a stop-start war that is inconsistent as it is dependent on the instructions of the Pakistan army instead of being relentless and unsparing in attacking enemies.“In India, they (al-Qaida) are the allies of the nationalist Kashmir factions whose advances and withdrawals are only by the order of the apostate Pakistani army. In North Africa, they are the allies of Libyan factions who partook in the religion of democracy in the name of Islam,” says the IS post.Lashkar’s denial of any IS role in Kashmir is seen as a reaction to the putdown as also a reflection of a concern that the ‘Caliphate’ may be gaining an increasing number of followers among disaffected youth. The presence of IS flags in demonstrations this year have been noticed by Indian intelligence agencies too.The tussle also indicates the Islamic State's impatience with jihadist outfits that are slow in recognizing its supremacy and the leadership of its ‘Khalifah (Caliph)’ Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.The post does not elaborate on its description of the Pakistan army as apostate but the reasons may lie in the hostilities that it is engaged in against Islamic extremists in northwest Pakistan and it being part of a system of governance that has an “elected” Parliament and a government that, according to IS, militates against religious law.Groups like the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan have previously levelled similar charges and the brutal attack on a school for children of military personnel in Peshawar was seen as evidence of this. According to the TTP, the family members of such an allegedly heretical force were legitimate targets of jihadist violence.For the LeT, the reference is embarrassing as it points to its close links with the Pakistan army and pokes holes in the fiction that it is an “indigenous” force fighting for the Kashmiri cause. The story has now worn very thin given the manner in which LeT chief Hafiz Saeed is feted by the military and treated an a key asset against India.Lashkar, in turn, has never attacked a Pakistani target and its camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir lie in close proximity to the army encampments which facilitate crossings of jihadis into Indian territory. Saeed has also been critical of the IS, saying “foreign elements” are attempting to strengthen ‘Daesh’ (IS) in Pakistan. He has called on the Nawaz Sharif government to take steps to control the spread of IS.Ironically enough, Saeed expressed concern over efforts to spread the evil of the IS in Saudi Arabia and said the Muslim world needs to remain united to combat the challenge.