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Crackdown on two Islamic charities

Nirupama Subramanian

They are blacklisted for their suspected links with Al-Qaeda

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday ordered a renewed crackdown on two Islamic charities blacklisted for their suspected links with Al-Qaeda.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that it had directed all Government departments to "reinforce action" against Al-Rasheed and Al-Akhtar charitable trusts. Both are on a United Nations list of entities linked to Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

Orders have gone out to provincial governments to ensure that the offices, bank accounts, websites and publications of the two trusts do not operate, the statement said.

Headquartered in Karachi, the Al-Rasheed trust is also linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed led by Masood Azhar, one of the three men freed by India during the 1999 Indian Airlines hijacking episode.

Pakistan had frozen accounts of Al-Rasheed and Al-Akhtar in 2002 and 2003, but from the Government's fresh orders against them, it appears they continued to function.

The renewed action comes after a spate of suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan, which claimed over 40 lives in the last three weeks.

After Saturday's suicide bombing in Quetta in which 16 people were killed, the police detained at least 25 people, mostly Afghans, for questioning.

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