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Pakistan Freezes Assets Of Three Militant Groups
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Musharraf
banned five militant groups after 9-11 and the attack on the
Indian parliament
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Asif Farooqi, IOL Correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
December 3 (IslamOnline.net) - The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on
Wednesday, December 3, ordered freezing the accounts of three militant
groups which were earlier banned by the government for alleged links
with international terrorist networks, sources in the banking sector
said.
The
central bank issued orders to all commercial banks through out the
country to freeze accounts of Tehreek-e-Islami Pakistan,
Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan; and Khudam-ul Islam.
Sources
said the decision is aimed at cutting off the financial lifeline of
international terrorist organizations such as Osama Ben Laden’s
Al-Qaeda.
The
SBP has also been trying to prevent illegal currency trading and money
laundering due to international pressure to cut off funding for
terrorists.
The
latest U.S. intelligence suggested that after coming under heavy
scrutiny by world intelligence agencies following 9/11, global
terrorists groups turned to using locally based organizations in
various countries to salvage their financial lifeline.
Some
of these groups, as indicated by the U.S. intelligence, have already
been banned and their accounts frozen in many countries including
Pakistan.
The
three groups targeted by the SBP had been banned last year but in
November the government had to once again ban them after they
re-emerged under new names.
Khudam-ul
Islam, formerly operating as Jaish-e-Mohammad, is a group fighting
against Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region and has been
accused of involvement in terrorism.
The
other two groups have been blamed for carrying out domestic sectarian
violence.
Millat-e-Islamia
is the new name for the outlawed radical Sunni Muslim Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan group.
Islami
Tehreek has emerged from the banned Shiite Muslim Tehrik-e-Jafria
Pakistan group.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa,
formed shortly before the banning of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was also put on
the "watch list" of the country's militant groups by the
government last month.
President
Pervez Musharraf had banned five militant groups in the wake of 9-11
and an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.
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