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Pakistan not to follow U.S. on Jamaat ban

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday said it would not follow the example of the U.S. and proscribe Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), the renamed outfit of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

"If we are not required, we do not put any entities on the terrorist list if the action is taken under the U.S. domestic law. However, if the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee were to designate any organisation [as terrorist], it becomes our legal obligation to take action," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told reporters at the weekly news briefing.

On Friday, the U.S. designated as global terrorist organisations the Jamaat and the Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK), two renamed outfits of the banned LeT. The two groups were added to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list of the State Department.

An announcement from Washington said after the two countries banned the LeT, it had renamed itself as the Jamaat to evade sanctions.

It also pointed out that the IKK was established as a public welfare organisation which it uses inter alia to collect funds.

Ms. Aslam said the U.S. had designated the Jamaat "and its affiliate organisation" as terrorist entities and approached the U.N. Security Council for endorsement and for putting them on sanctions committee's consolidated list.

To another question, Ms. Aslam hoped that the proposed talks between Hurriyat leaders and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be a step towards trilateral engagement.

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