NEW DELHI: New Delhi on Wednesday welcomed the US decision to designate three Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives as terrorists. “India welcomes the announcements made yesterday by the US departments of State and Treasury in which three Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) terrorists and terror financiers have been named as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDTG),” the ministry of external affairs said in a release.
While the state department named Pakistan-based LeT commander Abdul Rehman al-Dakhil as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), the US treasury department separately listed Hameed ul Hassan and Abdul Jabbar, as SDGTs. Dakhil was an operational leader for LeT’s attacks in India between 1997 and 2001, while Jabbar was described as a “financial facilitator” for the LeT who distributes salaries for the terrorist outfit.
According to the MEA, “the announcement vindicates India’s consistent stand that internationally designated terrorist groups and individuals, including LeT and it’s front, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation [FIF], continue to operate from and raise financial resources with impunity in Pakistan, and use territories under its control for carrying out cross-border terrorism in India.”
Centre denies active presence of ISIS in India
The Centre on Wednesday denied any active presence of the ISIS in India, claiming that the lone ISIS module in Jammu and Kashmir had been eliminated by the security forces. Union Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, said no terrorist of the ISJK, an outfit influenced by ISIS ideology, was active in Jammu and Kashmir and the extent of ISIS presence in the state was till recently limited to waving of flags of the terror group.
Appropriate action has been taken against those involved in waving ISIS and Pakistani flags in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister told the Rajya Sabha.