| India-Pakistan |
| US imposes sanctions on 3 LT leaders |
| 2009-07-02 |
| The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an Al Qaeda backer and three leaders of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, believed to be behind last year's Mumbai attacks. The US Treasury said it was imposing an assets freeze on the four, identified as Fazeelattul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al-Peshawari, Arif Qasmani, Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, and Nasir Javaid. Ameen Al-Peshawari allegedly provided assistance, including funding and recruits, to Al Qaeda and the Taliban currently fighting to regain control of Afghanistan. Qasmani is said to be the chief coordinator for Laskhar and Mujahid was the head of the group's media department. Javaid had allegedly served Lashkar's commander in Pakistan. The Treasury said its action came two days after Al-Peshawari, Qasmani and Mujahid were added to a UN blacklist of individuals. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Karachi businessman arrested for al-Qaeda links |
| 2005-12-02 |
| Security agencies have picked up a Karachi-based businessman on the suspicion of having links to Al Qaeda and Taliban two days back when he was travelling from Karachi to Lahore for a business meeting, family members fear. Arif Qasmani, a leading businessman had participated in a meeting held between the US State Department officials and former MNA, Haji Javed Ibrahim Piracha two weeks ago in Peshawar for initiation of dialogue with Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership. The US State Department denies holding any meeting with Mr Piracha. According to Qasmaniâs family members, he had gone to Lahore for a business meeting by PIA flight PK-302 on Tuesday morning, but he did not reach there as his business partner informed the Qasmani family about that on the same day. Family members say they have checked the final boarding list of the said flight, which carries Qasmaniâs name that means he was picked up from Lahore. They say Arif Qasmani had also been arrested on August 14, 2005 by the security agencies, however, he was released after a two-day long interrogation about his alleged links to Al Qaeda and Taliban. Qasmani is an active member of Defence of Human Rights Committee, an NGO which provides legal assistance to the suspects picked up by the security agencies on the charge of having links to Al Qaeda and Taliban. The committee also comprises Haji Javed Ibrahim Piracha, a former MNA from Kohat and leader of PML(N), a former Air Force officer, Khalid Khuwaja and others. The family member say they believe that Qasmani has been picked by the security agencies at the behest of those US officials who had held the meeting with Haji Javed Ibrahim Piracha and Arif Qasmani. Security agencies had also picked up a Karachi-based businessman, Saifullah Piracha in the same fashion when he was on his way to Bangkok for a business meeting on the same charge. Saifullah Piracha is currently languishing in Guantanamo Bay camp while his son Uzair Piracha has recently been convicted by a US court for helping Al Qaeda militants. Talking to Online, Khalid Khuwaja, a spokesman for the Defence of Human Rights Committee demanded of the government to take notice of the "disappearance" of Arif Qasmani, and if he was required in any case or investigations, his arrest be made public. He said confirmed that Mr Qasmani had attended the respective meeting between US officials and Javed Ibrahim Piracha. He said Mr Qasmani might have been abducted by criminals, but the government should investigate into matter. |
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| India-Pakistan | |
| Silent Crackdown On Hardline Islamist Groups | |
| 2005-12-01 | |
| Karachi, 1 Dec. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Struggling with an enormous task after the 8 October earthquake, the Pakistani government has been more than happy to allow banned Islamic groups, even those considered terrorist organisations by Washington, to take over much of the aid effort in remote areas. Without the help of groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba - now renamed as Jamaatut Dawa - the relief operation would simply collapse. However a quiet crackdown is underway, with the arrests of leading figures associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LT), a Salafite group in the al-Qaeda galaxy which is supportive of the former Taliban regime. Arif Qasmani is a veteran jihadi, having fought against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and been associated with the armed struggle in Indian-held Kashmir. He was picked up by Pakistani security forces last October but released a few days later. Now Qasmani is once again missing. According to his family, he was in Karachi and departed for Lahore two days ago but since he left home his whereabouts are unknown. The former commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Sindh province, Dawood Qasmi, resigned from the hardline group soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks and has since been associated with a medical research institute. Intelligence agents have raided his house in Karachi and threatened his wife that if Qasmi did not surrender within 24 hours the whole family would be rounded up, Dr Qasmiâs wife Hania told Adnkronos International (AKI). High level intelligence sources has confirmed that dozens of other suspected militants - mainly from Lashkar-e-Toiba- have been secretly rounded up across the country. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, along with four other Islamic groups, in January 2002 amid pressure that followed the 11 September attacks in the US. Until then LT, with its reputation for being purely Kashmir-focused, was able to operate openly inside Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting members. LT has close ties with Arab-Afghans, who came from their native countries to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviets or in the late 1990s, either for Al-Qaeda training or to boost the Taliban government. After the Taliban retreated from Kabul and Kandahar in 2001, and many Arab-Afghan families moved to Pakistan, LT members gave them refuge and arranged their safe exit from Afghanistan. High level sources said that so far the operation against LT is highly secret and selective but massive lists have been drawn up all across the country and a major arrest sweep is expected. They said that the operation, currently very low-key, would expand to the whole country including North and South Waziristan.
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