M A I N   N E W S

USA declares LeT, JeM terrorist groups

Washington, December 26
Turning more heat on Islamabad, the USA today branded Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed as terrorist outfits for their alleged involvement in the attacks on Indian Parliament and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and said Washington would work with New Delhi and Pakistan to “shut” them down.

However, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who declared LeT and JeM as foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs), said the two groups had conducted numerous terrorist attacks in India as well as in Pakistan to “destroy” relations between the two countries.

Indicating the US acceptance of India’s evidence showing involvement of LeT and JeM in the attacks on the Indian legislatures, Mr Powell said “As the recent horrific attacks on the Indian Parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly so clearly show, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and their ilk seek to assault democracy, undermine peace and stability in South Asia and destroy relations between India and Pakistan.”

The two groups, “which claim to be supporting the people of Kashmir, have conducted numerous terrorist attacks in India and Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Powell said designating LeT and JeM as foreign terrorist organisations under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act makes it illegal for persons in the USA or subject to US jurisdiction to provide material support to these terrorist groups.

He said it would enable the US Government to deny visas to the representatives of these groups. Mr Powell said he took the decision in consultation with the Attorney-General and Secretary of the Treasury after an exhaustive review of these groups’ violent activities.

Mr Powel said: “The vicious attacks that took place on September 11 made it clear that the USA must use every tool at its disposal to combat terrorism. He said LeT and JeM claimed to be supporting the people of Kashmir but had conducted numerous terrorist attacks in India and Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Within hours of the USA declaring Pakistan-based outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist organisations, Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar tonight termed them as “illegal and unconstitutional armies” whose existence was unacceptable to the government.

Pak arrests 30 Jaish members

Behawalpur (Pakistan), December 26
Thirty militants were arrested at the offices of Pakistan-based militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, witnesses and the police said today.

Founder Maulana Masood Azhar, who was taken into custody on Monday in the eastern Punjab province, is being held at an undisclosed location. “Azhar is in the custody of security agencies,” said the government spokesman, Gen Rashid Qureshi.

Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Hassan Barki confirmed Azhar’s arrest but said he didn’t know where Azhar was being held. The police remain stationed outside the group’s offices. It would not say what charges the men face.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan does not want a war with India and would like to resolve its disputes with it peacefully, according to a top Pakistani official.

“We have exercised restraint from the very beginning. We have said that we want the solution of every thing through negotiations. We do not want war. Despite provocations we have not taken any action of the kind that might create tension in the atmosphere,” Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan was quoted as saying by BBC. AP, PTI