Harakat-ul Jihad Islami declared a terrorist group

WASHINGTON: The United States and the United Nations on Friday designated Pakistan’s Harakat-ul Jihad Islami as a “foreign terrorist organisation” and targeted its commander for supporting acts of terrorism, the US Treasury Department said.

Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who the United States labeled a “specially designated global terrorist,” will have any of his assets frozen in US jurisdiction, and the move will also “prohibit US persons from engaging in any transactions with him.”

The United Nations, said the Treasury Department, has taken similar action against the HUJI and Kashmiri.

As the militant group’s leader, US officials said Kashmiri “provides support to al Qaeda operations, including logistical support for al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks,” the Treasury Department said detailing deadly assaults on Pakistani government personnel and facilities.

“In acting together, the United States and United Nations are today taking another important step in combating the threat that al Qaeda and its affiliated organisations pose to innocent people around the world,” said Stuart Levey, the US under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

HUJI’s area of operation, said the Treasury Department, extends “throughout South Asia,” but the arena for its terrorist activity remains mainly in India and Pakistan.

It also provided fighters to the Taliban fighting international forces in Afghanistan, and members of HUJI have trained in al Qaeda camps, said officials.

Among the attacks listed by the Treasury was a March 2006 suicide bombing on the US consulate in Karachi that killed four people, and injured 48 others. Kashmiri was also accused of involvement in an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark, following uproar over blasphemous cartoons.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2010