WASHINGTON: The United States put Harakat ul-Mujahideen and all its affiliates on a list of “foreign terrorist organisations” and “specially designated terrorists” on Thursday.

In a statement issued in Washington, the US Treasury Department said that after international sanctions, Harakat ul-Mujahedeen continued to work under various names. The names include Al-Faran, Al-Hadid, Al-Hadith, Harakat ul-Ansar, Harakat ul-Mujahidin, Jamiat ul-Ansar, HuA, HuM, Ansar-ul-Ummah and Its leader, Maulana Khalil, has been linked to Osama bin Laden and signed his February 1998 fatwa that called for attacks on Western interests. Cell phones discovered from bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad showed that the al-Qaeda chief maintained regular contacts with Maulana Khalil.

The group was already on these lists but had coined new names to avoid sanctions that follow the designation. Thursday’s action followed media reports that Harakat ul-Mujahedeen had once again become active in both Pakistan and abroad.Jamiat ul-Ansar. All of these have now been declared “foreign terrorist organisations”.

The original Harakat-ul-Mujahidin or Mujahedeen was formed in 1985 in central Punjab. The group emerged from Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), which fought the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2014