M A I N   N E W S

US redesignates Harkat as terrorist outfit

Washington, October 3
Pakistan-based militant outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Qaeda, LTTE and Hamas are among the 25 groups redesignated by the United States of America as Foreign Terrorist Organisations making it illegal for persons in the US to provide them with material support.

Pakistan-based militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi continue to remain on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations, an official announcement here has said.

“The Secretary of State, Gen Colin Powell, redesignated 25 groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations under the US law on October 2. The initial designations of these groups are due to expire on october 3,” a US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said yesterday.

“By re-certifying them as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and publishing that decision today in the Federal Register, we preserve the US Government’s ability to take action against them in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended,” he said.

“This act makes it illegal for persons in the United States or subject to the US jurisdiction to provide these groups with material support. It requires the US financial institutions to block assets held by them; and it enables us to deny visas to representatives of these groups,” Boucher said.

“The Secretary of State made this decision in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury after a thorough review of these groups’ terrorist activities over the past two years,” Boucher added. —PTI