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| India-Pakistan | |
| Extremist group operates openly in Pakistan | |
| 2007-12-18 | |
| Although the war against Islamic militancy has focused on shadowy underground organizations such as Al Qaeda, counter-terrorism officials say there is a growing worldwide threat from an extremist group operating in plain sight in Pakistan. The group, formerly known as Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Righteous, was formed in the late 1980s and, with the support of the Pakistani government, launched attacks against India in the dispute over the Kashmir region. In recent years, the camps that Lashkar once used primarily to train Pakistanis to fight for Kashmir have increasingly become a training ground for other militant groups and extremists who come from around the world to learn guerrilla warfare, according to current and former U.S. and allied counter-terrorism officials. And as its ranks have swelled along with anti-U.S. sentiment, they say, there is evidence that the group is working more closely with Al Qaeda and other extremist groups and may be getting more directly involved in militant activities against the West. Counter-terrorism officials cite evidence in recent years of fundraising or recruiting efforts in Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States. Inquiries are ongoing in Massachusetts and Lodi, Calif.
U.S. authorities consider it one and the same as Lashkar-e-Taiba and say it has continued to operate camps that train militants. The Treasury Department designated Jamaat ud-Dawa as a terrorist organization in April 2006, saying, "LET renamed itself JUD in order to evade sanctions. The same leaders that form the core of LET remain in charge of JUD." U.S. counter-terrorism officials say the group's status as a legal organization in Pakistan makes it difficult to target the group. It has thousands of loyal supporters and close ties to a government that has done little to rein it in, they say, a factor that has been a source of tension between the United States and Pakistan. "The U.S. government . . . has voiced its concerns" about Jamaat ud-Dawa to the government in Islamabad, said Daniel Markey, who oversaw South Asia policy for the State Department until February. U.S. officials have expressed the view that "the Pakistan government cannot sit by while Islamic extremists continued to win converts and press their agenda," he said. Pakistani officials said that Jamaat ud-Dawa is "under watch," but that the group is legal and separate from Lashkar-e-Taiba, which they insist has been shut down. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Extremism/terrorism is a tool of Mushys government!!!! |
| Posted by: Paul 2007-12-18 12:15 |
| #1 Yikes! Johnson! Stop the presses!! |
| Posted by: The LA Times 2007-12-18 10:46 |