The Trump administration continues to put pressure on Pakistan to crackdown on militant organizations, but this time the target are those outfits once associated with the armed struggle for the independence of Kashmir. In a latest move, the US State Department on April 02, 2018, placed Milli Muslim League (MML), the political face of Jamaat-ud-Dawa formerly known as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, on its list of foreign terrorist groups.
Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal was not available for an immediate reaction. However, official sources said that the MML is yet to register with Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and described the US move as an attempt to please India while India troops are indiscriminately killing Kashmiri people.
"The government placed a strict criterion for MMLs registration as a political party when the application for its registration was received with the ECP: asking it to provide a no-objection certificate from Ministry of Interior", a senior government official told Business Recorder.
On Monday, a three-member bench of the ECP directed the MML to provide a clearance certificate from Ministry of Interior to push its case for registration as a political party - the same day the US designated it as a terrorist outfit.
"The Department of has amended the designation of Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) to include aliases Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK). These aliases have been added to LeT's designations as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224", the State Department said. It further added these designations seek to deny LeT the resources it needs to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks.
"Among other consequences of the designations, LeT's property and interests in property subject to the US jurisdiction are blocked, and the US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group", it added.
The move coincides with the latest week-long visit by the US Department of State's Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Ambassador Alice Wells who visited Pakistan from March 28 to April 3.
"During her visit, Ambassador Wells discussed the South Asia strategy and Pakistan's stated commitment to eliminate all terrorist groups present within its borders, as well as our shared interest in building economic and commercial ties that benefit both nations", said the US Embassy here in a press release at the conclusion of her visit. Significantly, the April 3 press release of the Embassy did not mention the presence of Haqqani network in the country, as it had on January 16 after the conclusion of her first visit of this year when the Embassy stated: "Ambassador Wells urged the government of Pakistan to address the continuing presence of the Haqqani network and other terrorist groups within its territory".
This, according to Pakistani officials, is indicative of Pakistan's altered position with regard to presence of terrorist organizations in the country. "We have repeatedly conveyed to the US that there is no organized presence of any terrorist organization in the country. We have also emphasized that if the US has any intelligence report regarding any terror activity, it must be shared with Pakistani authorities", said a senior government official.
"During our talks with Ambassador Wells, we again reiterated our strong commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism from our soil and that we would not allow any terror outfit or individual to use Pakistani soil against any other country", the official said, adding that due to the effective military operations there is a noted decline in terrorists attacks in the country. According to latest data compiled by Business Recorder from various sources, 2018 has so far witnessed 20 terror attacks, mostly small scale bombings and shootings with exception of four major terror attacks - January suicide attack in Quetta killing 7, Kurram Agency IED attack killing 8, February Quetta suicide attack killing six and March bombing in Raiwind killing 10.
During the last three months, more than 60 people were killed in all small and major attacks, while the incidents of shootings and ambush by the terrorists especially in Balochistan and Dera Ismail Khan were unabated.