Lashkar is "a group whose well-educated recruits defy the idea that poverty and ignorance breed extremism. A group whose fighters include relatives of a politician, a senior army officer and a director of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission", said ProPublica, an investigative news site, citing the study.

The study released by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy in West Point helps explain why Pakistan has resisted international pressure to crack down on Lashkar after it slaughtered 166 people in Mumbai in 2008, it said.