US Declares “Lashkar-e-Jhangvi” As Terrorist Group

Islamabad, Feb 8, IRNA -- The US State Department has declared “Lashkar-e-Jhangvi” (LeJ), a Pakistan-based group which has already been banned in the country for its involvement in attacks on Shia Muslims as terrorist. According to the US State Department press release, one of the co-founders of the anti-US Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Malik Ishaq, who is also the vice president of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) led by Mohammad Ahmed Ahmed Ludhianvi, was declared most wanted and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The State Department press release issued late Thursday night stated that Ishaq had been tagged as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224.The consequences of this designation include a prohibition against US persons engaging in transactions with Malik Ishaq, and freezing of all property and interests of Malik Ishaq that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the possession or control of the US persons. Ishaq, languishing in prison in Lahore, was arrested on February 25, last year on charges of having his hands tainted with the blood of 200-plus Hazaras in Quetta who lost their lives in two separate incidents of suicide bombings. As per the State Department press release, “Ishaq had admitted in 1997 his involvement in terrorist activity that resulted in the deaths of over 100 Pakistanis. More recently, in February 2013, Pakistani police arrested Malik Ishaq in connection with attacks on January 10 and February 16, 2013 in Quetta, that killed nearly 200 civilians. LeJ claimed responsibility for the Quetta bombings. The Lashkar specializes in armed attacks and bombings and has admitted responsibility for numerous killings of religious and civil society leaders in Pakistan. LeJ claimed The responsibility for a 2013 attack in a crowded billiards hall in Quetta that resulted in the deaths of 80 persons. As a result of maintaining the FTO designation, the legal consequences of the designation remain in place, including the prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to LeJ, and the freezing of all LeJ assets under the control or possession of US financial institutions. The State Department took these actions in consultation with the Departments of Justice and Treasury. The law enforcement agencies had collected credible evidence after the 2013 Quetta suicide attacks suggesting that the leadership of the Quetta chapter of Lashkar, especially Usman Saifullah Kurd and Shafiqur Rehman Kurd, were being string-pulled by Ishaq before these bombings./end