LOC09:47
06:47 GMT
WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton amended
the designation of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), said the US Department of State.
The Department State said in a release issued on its website that the
designation was amended under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act (INA) and Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 and that Falah-i-Insaniat
Foundation (FIF) was added as an alias of LeT after the consultation with the
Secretary of the Treasury and the US Attorney-General.
The Department of the Treasury also designated LeT senior leader and
current head of FIF, Hafiz Abdur Rauf, Mian Abdullah, the head of LeT's
Traders Department, and Mohmmad Naushad Alam Khan, a key financial facilitator
for LeT, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under E.O. 13224, it said.
These actions will help stem the flow of finances to LeT through FIF and
provide the Department of Justice with a critical tool to prosecute those who
knowingly provide material support to LeT and its senior leaders, it added.
FIF is a Pakistan-based organization that is closely connected to banned
terrorist group LeT and its humanitarian front Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), it
pointed out.
LeT has claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist acts against
Pakistani, Indian and US interests and is responsible for the horrific
November 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Department of State said.
The United Nations and Government of Pakistan have already banned JUD,
through which LeT seeks to raise money for terrorist activities. In essence,
FIF is JUD with a new name, designed to evade scrutiny and sanctions, it noted.
It said that various actions taken against FIF support the US effort to
degrade the capabilities of LeT.
The release quoted the Department of State's Coordinator for
Counterterrorism, Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, as saying that the amendment of
the LeT designation to include FIF shows that the United States will not
tolerate any support to this organization.
LeT has attempted to use FIF as a way to evade scrutiny, he said, adding
that the designation will help put to an end that attempted evasion. (end)
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