US asks Pakistan to take action against terror groups like LeT, JeM

Agantrope

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US asks Pakistan to take action against terror groups like LeT, JeM

ashington, DC: The Obama Administration has asked Pakistan to take action against terror groups operating from its borders, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), saying this in the interests of India, US and that country.

The US' assessment formed the crux of the message that was conveyed to top Pakistan officials when the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake was in Islamabad recently.

"I urged them (Pakistan) to also take action against the Punjab-based groups, such as LeT, not only because that's important to India, but it's important to the United States.

LeT has growing ambition and scope in its activities, as shown by the David Headley case.

So we think it's very much in the interests of Pakistan, as well, to take action against the LeT," Blake told foreign reporters at a news conference here yesterday.

"I thanked all of our interlocutors in Pakistan for the very important progress that Pakistan has made to date, first in its campaign in Swat and one more recently in South Waziristan, and then the arrest of Taliban leaders that you will all have seen," he added.

"But we think there also needs to be progress against these Punjab-based groups, many of which, by the way, are targeting Pakistan, as well.

Groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) had been responsible for attacks in Lahore. They are responsible for the attack on theSri Lankan cricket team. So again, I think there's a compelling reason for the government (of Pakistan) to take action against those groups," Blake argued.

The State Department official who was recently in India and Pakistan, conceded that the issue of Kashmir came up for discussion in both the countries, but said it is up to Islamabad and New Delhi to decide how they would like to proceed on this issue.

"It’s like water (issue). Kashmir always comes up in everything. So it's very prominent.

But again, that's something that the two countries are going to have to work out," Blake said adding "Both countries have made quite a lot of progress in the period between 2004 and 2007.

So sometimes the premise of people's question is that it's impossible for India and Pakistan to make progress. That's simply not true. Both of your countries have made significant progress during that period.

In fact, there's the blueprint for some sort of agreement on Kashmir, if they choose to endorse that," he said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/repor...on-against-terror-groups-like-let-jem_1366372
 

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LeT eyes India's core sector: US think tank

NEW DELHI: A US defence department think tank has warned that India’s transportation, economic infrastructure and political establishment are on

the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s radar. It has also confirmed India’s charge that the terror outfit still enjoys funding from ISI.

What is equally significant is the think tank’s finding about the close links between LeT and Karachi-based D-Company of Dawood Ibrahim. “D-Company has established smuggling routes in the region, access to material, a partnership with LeT, and depends on ISI for refuge in Pakistan,” the report has said.

The think tank associated with the US Army War College said that the LeT, though having a close relationship with Al Qaeda, will continue to evolve into a distinctive, South Asia-centric terrorist actor while still receiving aid from fringe elements in Pakistan’s security and intelligence apparatus and elsewhere. “This will not only allow LeT to continue to plan future Mumbai-style terrorist attacks in India from safe havens in Pakistan, but will also enable it to guide and assist the predominantly indigenous Indian Mujahideen (IM).”

Authored by Ryan Clarke, the 117-page report “Lashkar-e-Toiba: The Fallacy of Subservient Proxies and the Future of Islamist Terrorism in India,” has given a detailed account of the outfit. The report said the troubling fact is that LeT has upgraded its activities and has begun to operate throughout India and will likely target transportation and economic infrastructure and political establishment as opposed to Indian security forces exclusively.

It has also endorsed New Delhi’s concern over sea route being used by jihadis to infiltrate into India. “It has adopted new methods of destabilisation such as recruiting from India’s troubled Northeast and smuggling militants into India by sea, a serious infringement on India’s sovereignty.”

The report said Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company has emerged as the principal source of its weaponry. “Although LeT has a wide support base that spans several continents, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is the most probable source of weaponry, given D-Company’s geographic proximity to LeT operations and the syndicate’s proven ability to clandestinely transfer enough weaponry to fight a small war on short notice.” The think tank also noted that in Pakistan, there has been close relationship between organised criminal syndicates, narcotics, money-laundering, militant activity and small arms trafficking.

It also drew the attention to the use of internet by LeT to raise funds for its terror activities. The organisation, the think tank said, has become market-savvy, making legitimate investments in a range of sectors. “All of this has resulted in a diversification of LeT’s financial pipeline, thus reducing the possibility of it being held hostage to a particular party, decreasing its vulnerability to a decapitating strike and ensuring its continued existence even if it is abandoned by Islamabad entirely.”

According to the think tank, LeT collects donations from the overseas Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and the UK, Islamic non-governmental organisations, Pakistani/Kashmiri business people and through its parent organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The militant group also counts on donations from sympathetic Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Islamist-leaning ISI leaders. “In addition, LeT maintains relations with extremist and/ or terrorist groups across the globe ranging from the Philippines to the Middle East and Chechnya by means of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa network,” the report said.

Although most of LeT’s monetary assets were previously deposited in mainstream financial institutions, many of these deposits were withdrawn and invested in legitimate ventures such as commodity trading, real estate and manufacturing in order to avoid seizures.
 

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