India-Pakistan |
Lashkar-e-Taiba Commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri Surfaces for First Time in a Decade |
2010-04-01 |
On March 23, 2010, Pakistan-based jihadist organizations organized a conference in the town of Kotli in Pakistani Kashmir. The conference was addressed by, among others, two prominent jihadist commanders - Syed Salahuddin and Abdul Wahid Kashmiri. Salahuddin is the Supreme Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, one of the militant organizations fighting against Indian security forces in the Jammu & Kashmir state, and also heads the Muttahida Jihad Council, a network of nearly two dozen Pakistan-based militant organizations. The Kotli meeting, which was billed as the "Defence of Pakistan Conference" and held on the Pakistan Day of March 23, was attended by hundreds of people and addressed by leaders of various jihadist organizations. Among the militant leaders who addressed the public meeting were Shaikh Jamilur Rehman of the militant organization Tehreekul Mujahideen, Bakht Zameen of Al-Badar Mujahideen, Maulana Farooq Kashmiri of Harkatul Mujahideen, Masood Sarfraz of Hizb-e-Islami (Jammu & Kashmir), General Abdullah of Jamiatul Mujahideen, Mufti Mohammad Asghar of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Mohammad Usman of Muslim Janbaz Force, Chaudhry Kamran of Al-Jihad Force, Ghulam Mohammad Safi, Mahmood Ahmed Saghar and Rana Iftikhar Ahmed, and others. It should be noted that Pakistani Kashmir, formally called Azad (free) Jammu & Kashmir, is an area heavily fortified by the Pakistani military. Most of the mainstream Pakistani newspapers did not publish reports about the conference, as they normally refrain from doing so due to fears of the displeasure of the military-led establishment in Pakistan. The conference took place while Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a;ong with a number of Pakistani officials, were in the U.S. for the March 24 Pakistan-U.S. Strategic Dialogue. |
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Bangladesh | |
15 militant outfits active | |
2010-03-30 | |
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 foreign militant organisations were active or are still operating in Bangladesh since 1991 using the country as a safe shelter or transit to infiltrate neighbouring countries. The organisations are Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami-Kashmiri (TJI), Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehadul Islami, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), Hezbe Islami, Jamiatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Ansar, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), Myanmar-based militant groups Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and National United Party of Arakan (NUPA). This was revealed from the statements of several detained foreign and local militants and insiders of different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies dealing with militancy. Operatives of different foreign militant groups started visiting Bangladesh and spreading their tentacles with the help of banned local militant group Huji after the end of the Afghan war against Russian forces. The militant organisations operated almost undisturbed from 1991 to 1998 and then between 2001 and 2005 under the nose of the local administration. "During the BNP-Jamaat rule activities of the foreign militants marked a serious rise under the nose of the administration. Some of them were held and later given a safe passage," says a law enforcer requesting anonymity. Operatives of several groups used to visit Bangladesh from Pakistan and then India to commit their activities, while many from India also sneaked into Bangladesh and then visited Pakistan with fake Bangladeshi passports to
The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say. Now some militant groups are generating funds for them by selling counterfeit Indian currencies in India. The counterfeit currencies, especially Indian rupees and US dollars, are mainly forged in Pakistan and carried to Bangladesh via Dubai. Then a strong syndicate of militants and criminals supply the fake currencies to India. "We've detected at least three such gangs having around 50 members. One of the gangs is led by Bangladeshi citizen Majumder, one by Pakistani citizen Sarfaraz and the other by another Pakistani named Mohammad Danish," says a top police official asking not to be identified. Recently, an international money transfer has been detected through which some fund came from Pakistan to detained Pakistani national Rezwan. Law enforcers could not give a clear idea about how many foreign militant groups are active in Bangladesh. But recent arrests of over a dozen foreign militants belonging to LeT, JeM, HuM and ARCF suggest they are still active here, they say. One of the Huji founders, Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who is behind bars in connection with the August 21 carnage case, named during interrogation nine Pakistan-based militant organisations which mainly work in Kashmir but also had operated in Bangladesh. The names of ARCF and LeT surfaced after the arrest of its leaders Indian citizens Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Monsur Ali in May last year. The ARCF used to work for LeT. The recent arrest of Pakistani national Rezwan Ahmed who admitted at a press briefing of coordinating JeM activities in Bangladesh suggests the outfit is still active here. The name of another Pakistan-based militant outfit Tehrik-ul Mujahideen came to notice from the confessional statement of executed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman. Rahman had visited Pakistan more than once and met Tehrik-ul Mujahideen leader Jamilur Rahman, who gave JMB 60,000 rupees and another Rs 1 lakh to Tahrikul-ul-Mujahideen's Bangladesh chapter leader Abdur Razzak of Natore. Salam also said Harkatul Mujahideen top leader and Pakistani nation Moulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil had also visited Bangladesh. Sources say Khalil made the visit in 1997 and met local militants at an NGO office in Mohammadpur in the capital. Sources in the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies say they have information about activities of RSO, ARNO and NUPA in the hill areas of Bandarban and Cox's Bazar. Moulana Salam also substantiated the claim as he in his statement said those groups still have some training camps in Naikhangchhari in Bandarban. Activities of HuM were detected a few months ago when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) learned one year after the arrest of Abdul Majid alias Abu Yusuf Butt that he is from India-administered Kashmir. Moulana Salam said Moulana Tajuddin told him that Majid brought a consignment of grenades used in the August 21, 2004 attack from Chittagong. Analyses of interrogation statements of Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Monsur Ali, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, Moulana Abdus Salam and Anisul Mursalin, now detained in India, Indian militants Faisal Nayeem alias Khurram alias Abdullah, Amir Raza, Mufti Obaidullah, Monsur Ali, Golam Yazdani alias Yahia, Mozammel and several others suggest that they had close relation with detained Huji linchpins Mufti Abdul Hannan, Abu Sayeed alias Dr Zafar and Moulana Abdur Rouf. Rouf, who was initially involved with Huji but later formed another militant group Tanjim-e Tamiruddin, visited an LeT safe shelter cum training camp in Habiganj in 2002. Khurram and Amir Raza had often visited Bangladesh but left the country in 2006. | |
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India-Pakistan |
No bail for banned militant group member |
2008-10-05 |
![]() The bench held that terrorist activities were on the rise and it would be highly prejudicial to the interest of society and the public at large to allow him bail, and directed the anti-terrorism court to expedite his trial. The applicant was arrested on May 11, 2008. According to the prosecution, Saifullah, Muhammad Ali and Nasrullah, were allegedly involved in a blast outside the LHC building. Saifullah moved the petition before the LHC, as an anti-terrorism court rejected his bail application on May 24. The applicant took the plea that he was falsely implicated in the offence and deserved concession of bail. The deputy prosecutor general said Saifullah was not entitled to bail at this stage. |
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India-Pakistan |
UJC flays Pak silence on recent Kashmir situation |
2008-07-07 |
TARIQ NAQASH Muzaffarabad, July 5: An alliance of militant groups on Saturday poured out anger at the governments, leaders, general public and media in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir for their "silence on recent happenings in Jammu and Kashmir" and gave an implied message that the struggling Kashmiris could rethink their ideology regarding Pakistan. "The Pakistani government and leaders are trying to compromise a short-cut with India on Kashmir...We condemn and reject their changed approach," declared Syed Salahuddin, chairman of United Jihad Council (UJC), at a press conference here. Flanked by top office-bearers of over a dozen UJC constituents, he regretted that while the Kashmiris were hoisting Green flags in Srinagar amid shouts of 'Pakistan zindabad' during protest demonstrations against land transfer to Shrine Board, Pakistan and AJK governments behaved like silent spectators. "We condemn the criminal silence of conscienceless and ignominious Pakistani rulers... They could not speak two words of sympathy for the innocent Kashmiris," a visibly angry UJC chief said. The unprecedented wave of demonstrations in Kashmir, he said, had made it quite clear that a nation, unready to surrender even 100 acres of land, could never cede entire state to India. "Over the past six decades Kashmir has rarely witnessed such a massive demonstrations and this should be an eye opener for those coming up with assorted proposals on the issue," he said. When asked if the Kashmiris would still stick to their ideology of Himalayan region's accession to Pakistan, he didn't mince words to warn that the views could change on the other side. "It's a reciprocal process. If you send a message that you cannot support the struggle the Kashmiris are not crazy to stay loyal to this ideology," he said. Salahuddin said the Kashmiris had pinned all of their hopes on Pakistan after the Almighty, but efforts were being made to dash those expectations. While censuring AJK premier Sardar Attique Khan for suggesting conversion of Line of Control into "line of commerce," the UJC chief also blasted "Pakistan's uncrowned ruler Asif Ali Zardari for crossing the limits." "Zardari does not even know the alphabets of Kashmir issue...He is speaking for someone else," he alleged as he referred to PPP co-chairman's statements on the longstanding issue. "The statements emanating from Islamabad and Muzaffarabad are rubbing salt into the wounds of suffering Kashmiris...They are aimed at axing the historic relationship between Pakistan and Kashmiris under a well-thought out conspiracy," Salahuddin said. He said it appeared that the present ruling clique was also bent upon pursuing the "beaten track policy of Pervez Musharraf which had caused irreparable loss to our movement." The UJC chief made it clear that the Kashmiris had not rendered sacrifices for trade or internal autonomy but for right to self determination. "On behalf of bleeding Kashmiris, I declare that even if each and every citizen of Pakistan and AJK turns his back on us, the freedom movement will continue till success," he vowed. In response to question, Salahuddin said the AJK rulers had no right to jaunt around the globe at taxpayers' money in the name of projecting Kashmir issue. "They are merely using this issue for grabbing power...They have not even addressed the concerns of a handful of Kashmiri refugees," he said. He also warned the Indian government against fuelling communal riots in Jammu region and said its repercussions would be dangerous. He agreed that Pakistan based leaders of APHC factions should have organised some rally on land transfer issue, regardless of resources or manpower. "I have heard now they plan to stage a sit-in outside Indian High Commission. But I agree they could not do it at the appropriate time." Salahuddin welcomed the reunification efforts between Hurriyat factions and vowed that mujahideen were ready to offer their last drop of blood in struggle alongside "sincere and unified leadership." He also rejected the forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir and asked the pro-freedom leadership to launch a vigorous campaign to warn people against the repercussions sham process. The leaders accompanying Salahuddin included Shaikh Jamilur Rehman (Tehrikul Mujahideen), 'General' Abdullah (Jamiatul Mujahideen), Masood Sarfraz (Hizb-e-Islami), Muhammad Iftikhar (Lashkar-e-Taiba), Muhammad Usman (Muslim Janbaz Force), Attiqur Rehman (Harkatul Mujahideen), Mufti Asghar (Jaish-e-Muhammad), Munir Ahmed Mahmood (Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami 313 Brigade), Jan Muhammad (Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami Jammu Kashmir), Khaki Nasrullah (Al-Fatah Force), Mushtaqul Islam (Al-Barq), Wasim Baig (Tehreek-e-Jihad) and Zahid Bakhtiyar (Islamic Front). |
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India-Pakistan | |||||
Guns will roar till tripartite talks: UJC | |||||
2008-04-22 | |||||
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Earlier, speaking at the conference Salahuddin said the fighters wanted to give a clear message to the people at the helm of affairs as well as political and religious leadership in Pakistan, and at the same time to the Indian rulers, that until every single inch of Kashmir was freed from New Delhis slavery, the struggle would continue with full force. People who taunt us as gun-frenzy must not forget that we launched a peaceful political struggle for emancipation for 42 long years but its absolute failure compelled us to take up arms, he said. The UJC chief reiterated that the mujahideen were ready to lay down weapons provided India accepted their conditions, such as acknowledging the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory and its settlement through meaningful tripartite talks. He regretted that after 9/11 Musharraf regime offered too many concessions to India, including the fencing of Line of Control, which caused great disappointment among the Kashmiris. In 2000 and 2001 our struggle had reached a decisive phase, but unfortunately Musharraf took on the pressure against the Islamic movements beyond the pale and consequently the political and diplomatic support to our movement declined considerably, he said. He disclosed that Kashmir had never been a core issue in any round of talks between India and Pakistan during Musharraf government. On the peace process, he said Kashmiris were a peace loving nation but could not promote peace process at the cost of their martyrs. Salahuddin made it clear that the Kashmiris would not accept any formula except complete liberation of their motherland. Division, status-quo, internal autonomy or cross border trade, all are unacceptable, he declared, adding, the militants were not opposed to trans-LoC travelling but they would not allow anyone to use it to dilute the freedom movement. Salahuddin also dispelled the impression as enemys propaganda that the mujahideen had got tired. Who says we are tired? We cannot betray the blood of 500,000 martyrs. As the number of martyrs is rising, Jihad has become an obligation of everyone, he said.
Referring to Mr Ten Percent Asif Ali Zardari without naming him, he said unfortunately some imprudent politicians were suggesting that Kashmir issue should be left for next generations. This movement cannot be postponed even for a single day, not to talk of next generations, he said. Referring to militant leaderships participation in talks, he said: We are not opposed to talks but the process should be in line with the aspirations of the Kashmiris. Whether we participate or not is insignificant. What is important is that when, where and on what issue the talks are held. If held on our conditions, we will appreciate and endorse the talks. Prior to Salahuddin, a number of other militant and political leaders also spoke. Tehreek-e-Kashmir convenor Ghulam Mohammad Safi blasted the PaK government, asking it to give up the practice of toeing the line of Pakistani rulers. You should develop courage to call a spade a spade. And you should also refrain from according red carpet reception to the so-called leaders whose hands are stained with the blood of Kashmiris, whether it is Omar Abdullah or Mehbooba Mufti, he said. His views were later echoed by APHC convenor Syed Yousaf Nasim who said Pakistani and Kashmiri leaders may receive Indians but not those who were responsible for the massacre of Kashmiris. Red carpet reception to such leaders is tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of oppressed Kashmiris, he said. Almost all speakers criticized the previous Pakistani governments policies on Kashmir, with some saying that Islamabad was trapped by New Delhi into weakening the Kashmir freedom struggle. Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, amir of proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba, was also among the speakers but he focused his speech on some instances from the Islamic history to establish a point that freedom movements could take longer than expected time and Kashmiris should not get disappointed from 19 years of struggle. Prominent among other speakers were Sheikh Jamilur Rehman of Tehrikul Mujahideen, General Abdullah of Jamiatul Mujahideen, Attiqur Rehman of Harkatul Mujahideen, Farooq Qureshi of Al Barq Mujahideen, Mastoid Sarfraz of Hizb-e-Islami, Uzair Ghizali of Pasban-e-Hurriyat, Raja Izhar Khan, Yousaf Butt and Amjad Khan advocate. | |||||
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Bangladesh | |
Security forces hold 27 militants in Bangladesh | |
2007-04-17 | |
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In a stepped up drive against religious extremism eight Islamic priests were arrested in the northern Pabna district for spreading militancy through mosques. Seven alleged militants were also rounded up after an overnight raid on a hideout used by the extremists evading arrests in Bogra district north of Dhaka. Four others were also detained for distributing Islamic posters and booklets. Earlier eight suspected Islamic militants were captured by an anti-terror police squad in central Bangladesh Sunday during a raid on an Islamic religious school, officials said. The arrested militants were members of the outlawed Mujahideen group who have vowed to change Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country, into an Islamic state ruled by the Koran. Police raided a madrassa, an Islamic school, in central Tangail district after a tip off that the militants had gathered for a secret meeting. A huge number of home made explosives including hand grenades were seized. | |
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Bangladesh |
Thirteen Islamic militants given life term in Bangladesh |
2006-05-16 |
Dhaka - A special court in northern Bangladesh handed down life imprisonment terms to 13 Islamic militants for their involvement in a series of bomb attacks less than a year ago, officials said Monday. All the convicted men are members of the banned Islamic militant group, Jamiatul Mujahideen, which has been blamed for orchestrated blasts across the country on August 17, 2005. Meanwhile in Rajshahi, northern Bangladesh, judge Aminul Islam acquitted 14 others for their role in explosions that killed at least six people dead and injured scores owing to lack of evidence in a verdict announced late Sunday. Four of the convicted were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia, public prosecutor Ketab Uddin said. The simultaneous terrorist attacks were staged in more than 400 locations across Bangladesh and in Dhaka. The top leaders of the Jamiatul Mujahideen, including its founder and spiritual chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman, and several hundred militant activists were jailed for sedition and the killing of civilians - offences that carry the death penalty in Bangladesh. The militant outfit vowed to set up a hardline Islamic state in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh. In a related development, security forces in the western frontier town of Jhenidah arrested four suspected Mujahideen activists and seized about seven kilogrammes of chemicals used for making bombs, the daily Ittefaq reported Monday. Police said a huge cache of printed publicity material was also seized, the report quoted them as saying. |
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Bangladesh |
Bomb factory found at Bangladesh mosque |
2005-10-19 |
![]() Local residents said the factory had been supplying explosives to Jamiatul Mujahideen militants for carrying out bomb attacks across the country. The police detained a suspected militant from the mosque after forcing entry to the building and also seized publicity materials belonging to the militant group. |
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Afghanistan/South Asia |
The Jihad Lives On Part 2 |
2005-03-09 |
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) ![]() Despite its renaming, the US State Department designated the Jaish a foreign terrorist organization in December 2001, compelling Musharraf to ban the group in January 2002. Masood Azhar got his outfit registered under the new name of Khudamul Islam within no time. The Jaish chief was kept under house arrest for a few months after the 9/11 terror attacks, but was subsequently set free. Though Masood Azhar, while conceding to the ISI's pressure, had directed his henchmen not to target the American interests in Pakistan, there are strong fears in the Pakistani intelligence circles that the dissident members of the Jaish, who are unknown and have gone underground, constitute the real threat. The murmurs of dissent in the outfit first surfaced when Masood Azhar failed to react to General Musharraf's policy change on Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks. Several prominent Jaish members favoured retaliatory attacks against US interests in Pakistan to pressurize the military ruler against supporting the Bush administration. But acting under the agencies' command, Masood refused to acquiesce. As things stand, there are fears that ongoing disputes over possession of the various Jaish offices, mosques and other material assets could lead to more serious clashes between the two banned factions. The main cause behind the fighting is the embezzlement of fundsby Azhar and his family members, his lucrative profession is the main reason he has been so loyal to the establishment. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) ![]() There have been numerous clashes between the Pakistani Jihadis and the ethnic Kashmiri Jihadis, as well as fighting between the Salafis and the others According to the intelligence sources, reorganizing the command and control structure of the HM-led UJC was part of a strategy change to enable Pakistani intelligence to have tighter control over its running. With the restructuring of the UJC, they said, no component member of the UJC would be allowed to launch an attack in J&K, unless approved by the Council. That is why most of the smaller groups, which had been irritants for the ISI, have been merged to reduce the number of their representation in the Jehad Council from thirteen to five. Al-Barq, Tehreek-e-Jehad, Islamic Front, Brigade 313 and the Kashmiri component of HuM have been merged to form the Kashmir Freedom Force, which would be led by Farooq Qureshi of Al Barq. The Muslim Janbaz Force, Al Jehad Force, Al Fateh Force, Hizbullah and Jamiatul Mujahideen (JuM) have also been merged to form the Kashmir Resistance Force, which would be led by Ghulam Rasool Shah. Similarly, many of the militant training camps have been moved from Azad Kashmir to Pakistan in Punjab and the Frontier provinces, with strict restrictions on the movement of militants. The training camps have reportedly been relocated at Taxila, Haripur, Boi, Garhi Habibullah and Tarbela Gazi. The reorganisation actually took place a while ago Harkatul Mujahideen (HuM) Led by Maulana Fazalur Rehman Khalil till recently, the HuM has regrouped and is working in a low-key manner under the name of the Jamiatul Ansar, but insisting that it has a non-militant agenda. As the Government's anti-extremism drive brought into sharp focus Maulana Khalil's alleged al-Qaeda links, he had to resign from the top slot of the organization in January 2005, as advised by his spy masters. Khalil, who was released in December 2004 after an eight-month detention in a seven by seven foot cell, submitted his resignation at a January 2005 meeting of the 'executive committee' of the HuM and asked the committee members to elect Maulana Badar Munir from Karachi as the new chief. Intelligence sources, however, insist that Khalil remains in the good books of the establishment and would continue calling the shots from behind the scene, despite his resignation as the Harkat chief, which was nothing more than an eye wash. HuM's association with Osama bin Laden was established on August 20, 1998, when US planes bombed the al-Qaeda training camps near Khost and Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan in retaliation to US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The US bombs destroyed two HuM training camps and killed 21 of its activists. As of today, the US intelligence agencies believe the Harkat still retains links, like most other jehadi groups, with the Taliban remnants and al-Qaeda operatives hiding on the Pak-Afghan border. Despite enthusiastic applause from the West for anti-militancy efforts of Pakistan's 'visionary' military ruler, it is evident that much remains to be done on the ground before these efforts will actually bear fruit. With changing scenarios all over the world, there has been a change of minds, yet what is required is a change of hearts. |
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Afghanistan/South Asia | ||
11 jihadi groups banned from making public statements | ||
2004-11-10 | ||
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Mufti escapes assassination bid |
2004-02-28 |
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed escaped a bid on his life as militants fired two rifle grenades at a rally he spearheaded in Beerwah in which one person was killed and eight others injured Friday afternoon, official sources said. The grenades landed about 300 meters away from the venue of the rally in Kashmir, also attended by some of Sayeed's cabinet colleagues. They landed 300 meters away? And they were shooting at him? From where? Omaha? There was no report of any casualty in the attack so far. The chief minister was immediately whisked away by security personnel. However, a few minutes later he returned to complete his address. The people, too, stood their ground and waited for the Mufti to finish his address. The chief minister announced a college for the area and several other developmental projects. A caller, claiming to be the spokesman of the Jamiatul Mujahideen, said its militants carried out the attack. |
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India-Pakistan | |||||||
More Pakistani jihadi organizations to be banned | |||||||
2004-01-12 | |||||||
Anybody care to place bets on how long till they show up again under a new name? The government is likely to ban more jihadi groups including the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HJI) and Jamiatul Mujahideen (JM) after it found evidence they were involved in the suicide attacks on President General Pervez Musharraf, sources in the Interior Ministry and intelligence agencies told Daily Times on Sunday.
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