| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"nkdatta8839" |
| Date: |
16 Oct 2003 08:46:14 PM |
| Object: |
US Senate Concerned By Terror Aid From Pakistan |
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/international/asia/15STAN.html
New York Times
October 15, 2003
Pakistani Charity Is Called Terror Front by U.S. Treasury
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
The United States Treasury Department designated a Pakistani charity,
Al Akhtar Trust International, as a financial sponsor of terrorism
yesterday, saying the group finances Al Qaeda militants in
Afghanistan, raises money for terrorist acts in Iraq, and may be
linked to the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal
reporter, in Pakistan.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Al Akhtar had
operated in the guise of a charitable organization and was a successor
to Al Rashid Trust, which the department has previously identified as
a terrorist financier. Treasury officials said the information used to
designate Al Akhtar as a terrorist entity came from continuing
counterterrorism investigations conducted with the Pakistani
government.
While the designation permits Treasury officials to freeze all of Al
Akhtar's American assets, an agency official told reporters yesterday
that few assets were likely to be found in this country. The
department also plans to ask the United Nations to designate Al Akhtar
as a terrorist entity, a move that would require member countries to
freeze Al Akhtar's assets elsewhere in the world.
Juan Zarate, a senior counterterrorism official with the Treasury
Department, said in a telephone interview that the department did not
have evidence that directly tied Al Akhtar funds to specific acts of
terror in Iraq, including the recent car bombings directed at civilian
institutions like the United Nations. But he said the department
believed that Al Akhtar was collecting money with the goal of carrying
out terrorist acts in Iraq.
Al Akhtar could not be reached for comment, but its Web site says the
group finances relief organizations like hospitals and blood banks.
The Treasury Department, basing its information on Pakistani media
accounts, said Al Akhtar was founded three years ago by prominent
religious scholars "for the purpose of providing financial assistance
for mujahedeen, financial support to the Taliban, and food, clothes
and education to orphans of martyrs."
The department also said that a man named Al-Saud Memon supervised Al
Akhtar's finances and was believed to have been involved in the
kidnapping of Mr. Pearl. According to a Treasury Department statement
yesterday Mr. Memon may have been present at the compound in Pakistan
where Mr. Pearl was held captive and killed.
To date, the United States and allies have designated 321 individuals
and organizations as terrorists, frozen about $137 million in assets,
and seized more than $60 million.
================================================================================
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3192886.stm
BBC News
Wednesday, 15 October, 2003, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK
US acts against Pakistan charity
The United States has accused a Pakistan-based charity of providing
support to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The US treasury department has frozen the assets of the al-Akhtar
Trust after designating it a "terrorist support organization".
Treasury Secretary John Snow said the action was aimed at blocking the
funding of terrorist groups.
"Shutting down this organisation will cripple yet another source of
support for terrorists and possibly help undermine the financial
backing of terrorists staging attacks against American troops and
Iraqi civilians in Iraq," he said.
But a spokesman for the group in Pakistan denied the allegation.
"We have no links or connections with any terrorist organisation or
network in Pakistan, Afghanistan or elsewhere," Zahid Ahmed, a
director of the Al Akhtar Trust told AFP.
Assets frozen
Al-Akhtar now joins a list of 320 other groups and businesses which
are accused of supporting terrorist organisations.
Under the US action, no American national is allowed to engage in any
transaction with the group.
US banks will also be required to examine their records and freeze any
assets held in the group's name.
Al-Akhtar describes itself as a "non-profit, non-government
organisation involved in humanitarian and relief projects in Pakistan
and Afghanistan".
But the US says the group secretly treated al-Qaeda members wounded in
fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, after the Americans
launched attacks against the Taleban regime.
US treasury department officials say the charity has taken over many
of the operations previously run by the al-Rashid Trust, which was put
on the terror list in September 2001.
In recent weeks, fighting has intensified in southern Afghanistan amid
fears that the former Taleban regime has been regrouping.
Security has been tightened along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to
prevent any fighters from crossing over.
================================================================================
The New York Times
October 13, 2001
U.S. freezes more assets
By JOSEPH KAHN and JUDITH MILLER
...... The new list of 39 individuals and groups, which adds to 27
identified in a White House executive order last month, appears for
the first time to draw a direct link between bin Laden and prominent
members of Saudi society. .....
...... list was released at a time when Saudi Arabia is trying to walk
a fine line between its alliance to the United States and its
commitment to a stark interpretation of Islam espoused by many radical
opponents of America.
It also includes Rabita Trust, a Pakistani charity that at least until
recently had Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on its
board. Administration officials said they warned Musharraf of the
impending order against the Rabita Trust and encouraged him to
disassociate himself from what they described as its founder's
links to al-Qaida, bin Laden's terrorist network.
The new list puts increased pressure on both Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia, two countries whose help the U.S. has solicited in its war
against terrorism, to move against some of their own citizens and
financial institutions. .....
...... charity groups are prime targets in the clampdown. The Rabita
Trust has helped resettle refugees from Bangladesh to Pakistan for
three decades. It enjoys top-level connections in Pakistan, including
Musharraf's support. But administration officials said its
secretary general, Wa'el Hamza Jalaidan, was an original founder
of Al-Qaieda along with bin Laden.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington said he had no
information about Musharraf's links to the charity. .....
================================================================================
.
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| User: "nkdatta8839" |
|
| Title: Re: US Senate Concerned By Terror Aid From Pakistan |
17 Oct 2003 08:24:33 PM |
|
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1065610,00.html
The Guardian, UK
Saturday October 18, 2003
India's 'terrorist' crime lord
By Maseeh Rahman
The United States has declared India's most wanted criminal a "global
terrorist" and accused him of funding attacks by Islamic extremists
aimed at destabilising the Indian government.
Dawood Ibrahim, a powerful Bombay crime lord now in Pakistan, has been
blacklisted by the department of the treasury, which ordered the
freezing of his assets in the US.
"This signals our commitment to identifying and attacking the
financial ties between the criminal underworld and terrorism," said
Juan Zarate, the deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing
and financial crimes.
Officials accuse Ibrahim, the son of a Bombay police constable,of
running a syndicate which shipped drugs to the UK and Western Europe,
and of sharing smuggling routes with al-Qaida.
Ibrahim is also accused of financially supporting the banned militant
group Laskhar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), which India holds responsible for the
December 2001 attack on the New Delhi parliament .
Suspected LeT militants yesterday launched an attack near the home of
Kashmir's chief minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. Two soldiers were
killed and seven people were injured in two explosions near Sayeed's
house in Srinagar.
India's deputy prime minister, Lal Krishna Advani, accused Pakistan of
supporting the attack, but Pakistan's information minister, Sheikh
Rashid Ahmed, said there was no truth in the allegations.
================================================================================
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/international/asia/15STAN.html
New York Times
October 15, 2003
Pakistani Charity Is Called Terror Front by U.S. Treasury
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
The United States Treasury Department designated a Pakistani charity,
Al Akhtar Trust International, as a financial sponsor of terrorism
yesterday, saying the group finances Al Qaeda militants in
Afghanistan, raises money for terrorist acts in Iraq, and may be
linked to the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal
reporter, in Pakistan.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Al Akhtar had
operated in the guise of a charitable organization and was a successor
to Al Rashid Trust, which the department has previously identified as
a terrorist financier. Treasury officials said the information used to
designate Al Akhtar as a terrorist entity came from continuing
counterterrorism investigations conducted with the Pakistani
government.
While the designation permits Treasury officials to freeze all of Al
Akhtar's American assets, an agency official told reporters yesterday
that few assets were likely to be found in this country. The
department also plans to ask the United Nations to designate Al Akhtar
as a terrorist entity, a move that would require member countries to
freeze Al Akhtar's assets elsewhere in the world.
Juan Zarate, a senior counterterrorism official with the Treasury
Department, said in a telephone interview that the department did not
have evidence that directly tied Al Akhtar funds to specific acts of
terror in Iraq, including the recent car bombings directed at civilian
institutions like the United Nations. But he said the department
believed that Al Akhtar was collecting money with the goal of carrying
out terrorist acts in Iraq.
Al Akhtar could not be reached for comment, but its Web site says the
group finances relief organizations like hospitals and blood banks.
The Treasury Department, basing its information on Pakistani media
accounts, said Al Akhtar was founded three years ago by prominent
religious scholars "for the purpose of providing financial assistance
for mujahedeen, financial support to the Taliban, and food, clothes
and education to orphans of martyrs."
The department also said that a man named Al-Saud Memon supervised Al
Akhtar's finances and was believed to have been involved in the
kidnapping of Mr. Pearl. According to a Treasury Department statement
yesterday Mr. Memon may have been present at the compound in Pakistan
where Mr. Pearl was held captive and killed.
To date, the United States and allies have designated 321 individuals
and organizations as terrorists, frozen about $137 million in assets,
and seized more than $60 million.
================================================================================
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3192886.stm
BBC News
Wednesday, 15 October, 2003, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK
US acts against Pakistan charity
The United States has accused a Pakistan-based charity of providing
support to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The US treasury department has frozen the assets of the al-Akhtar
Trust after designating it a "terrorist support organization".
Treasury Secretary John Snow said the action was aimed at blocking the
funding of terrorist groups.
"Shutting down this organisation will cripple yet another source of
support for terrorists and possibly help undermine the financial
backing of terrorists staging attacks against American troops and
Iraqi civilians in Iraq," he said.
But a spokesman for the group in Pakistan denied the allegation.
"We have no links or connections with any terrorist organisation or
network in Pakistan, Afghanistan or elsewhere," Zahid Ahmed, a
director of the Al Akhtar Trust told AFP.
Assets frozen
Al-Akhtar now joins a list of 320 other groups and businesses which
are accused of supporting terrorist organisations.
Under the US action, no American national is allowed to engage in any
transaction with the group.
US banks will also be required to examine their records and freeze any
assets held in the group's name.
Al-Akhtar describes itself as a "non-profit, non-government
organisation involved in humanitarian and relief projects in Pakistan
and Afghanistan".
But the US says the group secretly treated al-Qaeda members wounded in
fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, after the Americans
launched attacks against the Taleban regime.
US treasury department officials say the charity has taken over many
of the operations previously run by the al-Rashid Trust, which was put
on the terror list in September 2001.
In recent weeks, fighting has intensified in southern Afghanistan amid
fears that the former Taleban regime has been regrouping.
Security has been tightened along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to
prevent any fighters from crossing over.
================================================================================
The New York Times
October 13, 2001
U.S. freezes more assets
By JOSEPH KAHN and JUDITH MILLER
...... The new list of 39 individuals and groups, which adds to 27
identified in a White House executive order last month, appears for
the first time to draw a direct link between bin Laden and prominent
members of Saudi society. .....
...... list was released at a time when Saudi Arabia is trying to walk
a fine line between its alliance to the United States and its
commitment to a stark interpretation of Islam espoused by many radical
opponents of America.
It also includes Rabita Trust, a Pakistani charity that at least until
recently had Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on its
board. Administration officials said they warned Musharraf of the
impending order against the Rabita Trust and encouraged him to
disassociate himself from what they described as its founder's
links to al-Qaida, bin Laden's terrorist network.
The new list puts increased pressure on both Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia, two countries whose help the U.S. has solicited in its war
against terrorism, to move against some of their own citizens and
financial institutions. .....
...... charity groups are prime targets in the clampdown. The Rabita
Trust has helped resettle refugees from Bangladesh to Pakistan for
three decades. It enjoys top-level connections in Pakistan, including
Musharraf's support. But administration officials said its
secretary general, Wa'el Hamza Jalaidan, was an original founder
of Al-Qaieda along with bin Laden.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington said he had no
information about Musharraf's links to the charity. .....
================================================================================
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