UN, US designate HuJI as foreign terrorist organisation

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 7 (PTI) The US in conjunction with the
United Nations has designated al-Qaeda-linked HuJI as a
foreign terrorist organisation and slapped sanctions on its
commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who was close to 26/11
plotter David Headley, for carrying out terror activities in
India and Pakistan.
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and Kashmiri have been
involved in a series of terrorist activities in India,
including the attack on the Hyderabad mosque in 2007 that
killed 16 people and the March 2007 Varanasi terrorist strike
that left at least 25 people dead and another 100 injured.
Kashmiri's name also cropped in 26/11 and he was in close
contact with Headley, who has confessed to his involvement in
the Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people, including
six Americans.
While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated HuJI
as a foreign terrorist organisation, Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner slapped sanctions on Kashmiri.
Simultaneously, the UN also announced a similar sanction
against HuJI and Kashmiri at its headquarters in New York.
"The joint State and Treasury Department actions taken
today, in conjunction with the United Nation's listing,
illustrates the international community's resolve to counter
the threat posed by HuJI and its leader Mohammad Ilyas
Kashmiri," Daniel Benjamin, State Department's Coordinator for
Counter-terrorism, said Friday evening.
"Linkages between HuJI and al-Qaeda are clear, and
today's designations convey the operational relationship
between these organisations," Benjamin said.
These actions were taken in consultation with the
Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice.
"Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri is at the core of HuJI's efforts
to plan and carry out attacks against US forces and our
allies. He is responsible for creating a cadre of militants to
act on behalf of HuJI and al-Qaeda," said Under Secretary for
Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.
In acting together, the United States and United Nations
are taking "another important step" in combating the threat
that al-Qaeda and its affiliated organisations pose to
innocent people around the world, Levey said in a statement.
The "action against Kashmiri was taken pursuant to
Executive Order 13224, which freezes any assets Kashmiri has
under US jurisdiction and prohibits US persons from engaging
in any transactions with him. The United Nations also took
similar actions against HuJI and Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri," the
US Department of Treasury said in a statement. (More) PTI