India hails US move designating 3 LeT members as global terrorists

New Delhi: India on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the US on designating three Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) terrorists and terror financiers as global terrorists.

In response to media queries about the announcement made by the US Departments of State and Treasury on the designation of three LeT terrorists, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: "India welcomes the announcements made yesterday by the US Departments of State and Treasury in which three Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) terrorists and terror financiers have been named as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDTG)."

India stated that the "announcement vindicated India's consistent stand that internationally designated terrorist groups and individuals, including LeT and its front, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) not only continued to operate from and raise financial resources with impunity in Pakistan, but used territories under its control for carrying out cross-border terrorism in India and South Asia."

"The latest designations also call into question Pakistan's sincerity in taking effective action against such terrorist elements," India added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action to disrupt Lashkar-e Tayyiba's (LeT) fundraising and support networks by designating two of the group's financial facilitators, Hameed ul Hassan and Abdul Jabbar, as Global Terrorists.

OFAC has designated Hassan and Jabbar for acting for or on behalf of LeT, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan. All property and interests in the name of Hassan and Jabbar subjected to US jurisdiction are now blocked.

Hassan, a financial facilitator for LeT worked with Falah-e Insaniat Foundation, an alias of LeT, to collect and send funds to Syria as of late 2016. 

Further, during early 2016, Hassan worked with his brother, Muhammad Ijaz Safarash, and Khalid Walid to transport funds to Pakistan on behalf of LeT.

Additionally, Hassan has an active Twitter account, which identifies him as the leader of Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawah (an alias of LeT) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Jabbar, a financial facilitator managed salary distribution for the terrorist group. He has worked in LeT's finance department since around 2000. 

As of mid-2016, Jabbar distributed funds on behalf of the Falah-e Insaniat Foundation. In November 2010, the Department of State amended its designations of LeT to include the alias Falah-e Insaniat Foundation.

In March 2012, the UN amended its Sanctions List to recognise the Falah-e Insaniat Foundation as a front for LeT.

Separately, the Department of State on Tuesday put Abdul Rehman al-Dakhil on the list of 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).'

Dakhil was a longtime member of the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) and was an operational leader responsible for LeT-led attacks in India between 1997 and 2001.