Harkat founder dares US to prove terror charges

Fazal ur Rehman Khalil, two Pakistanis placed on terrorist watch-list

ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani religious leader Fazal ur Rehman Khalil, who has been placed on the United States of America’s terrorist watch-list, has challenged Washington to prove terror charges leveled against him. On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department added Khalil – founder of the Harkatul Mujahideen (HUM) – two Pakistani nationals and one Pakistani entity to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

The two other Pakistanis are Muhammad Naeem Sheikh, who is linked with the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT), and Umair Naeem Sheikh, who is linked with Abdul Hameed Shahabuddin.

Thus all assets of these individuals based in the US or in control of US citizens are frozen and American citizens are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them, the Treasury Department said.

“Both LT and HUM are violent terrorist organisations that train militants and support the activities of many of the best known and brutal extremist groups, including al Qaeda,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen.

Fazal ur Rehman Khalil rejected the accusations as unjustified and said he would challenge the decision in a Pakistani court. “The United States has welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also on the list, and President Obama has even given a gift to Mr Modi but I have been included on the terror list,” Khalil commented to The Express Tribune. He said the US has failed to prove terror charges against him for the last 16 years.

Khalil, who currently heads the Ansar-ul-Ummah group, said his organisations have “never been involved in terrorism” and the US slapped unjust sanctions on him and his groups. “We are not terrorists but real and Islamic Mujahideen,” he said, alleging that he has been declared a terrorist because of his support for Palestine.

In early August Khalli stated that he was ready to send his militants to Palestine to fight Israelis. Just days after this statement, the State Department added Ansar-ul-Ummah to the lists of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

“We do not accept the US decisions and Americans have neither proved the charges in a Pakistani nor a US court,” Khalil said at his headquarters. “The American decision cannot make me a terrorist and no one will consider former president Bush and President Obama terrorists if I call them terrorists,” he added.

The Treasury Department said HUM is a “terrorist group” that operates in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and maintains terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2014.