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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
The Government of India has reacted cautiously to reports that the United States and Great Britain have banned the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed and frozen its bank accounts.
Talking to the Star News channel, Minister for External Affairs and Defence Jaswant Singh did not look too happy when asked for his comments on the ban on the terrorist outfit.
"We knew that the ban was coming. They have frozen the bank accounts of the organisation. But it would now operate under a new name," Singh said.
Anticipating a ban on his outfit after it had claimed responsibility for the October attack on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Masood Azhar, a close associate of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, had floated a new organisation by the name of Tehrik-al-Furqan and appointed Mufti Nizamuddin Shamsi as its patron in chief.
Maulana Mazhar Shah, a prominent leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, was appointed convenor, of Tehrik.
When contacted, Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani refused to comment on the development.
According to intelligence sources, the government also wanted the US to ban other terrorist outfits like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
In an interview with rediff.com, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police A K Suri had described the Lashkar as the most dreaded terrorist organisation operating in the state.
The intelligence agencies were gathering evidence to establish the nexus between the top brass of Lashkar and the Al Qaeda of Osama bin Laden.
This would help to convince the US that no matter what name they operated under, the terrorist organisations had the same goal.
"We are on the job and we hope to get evidence to prove this nexus," a top intelligence official told rediff.com.
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External Link: For further coverage, please visit www.saja.org/roundupsept11.html
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