US re-designates Jaish, Lashkar as foreign terrorist outfits

Washington, Dec. 24: Intensifying crackdown on Pakistan-based militant outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir, the United States has re-designated Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toeba as terrorist groups and targeted their new aliases.

By re-designating the two outfits, whose initial designation is due to expire on Friday, "we preserve the US government’s ability to take action against them in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality act," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said Secretary of State Colin Powell, who made the decision in consultation with Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury after a thorough review of these groups’ terrorist activities over the past two years, has renewed their designations in the Federal Register, a gazette of government business.

In addition, Powell has "amended the designations of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toeba to add new aliases currently in use by these terrorist organisations", Boucher said.

"As we carry on the global campaign against terrorism, we hope this list will help to isolate these terrorist organisations to choke off their sources of financial support and to prevent their members’ movement across international borders," he said. (PTI)