At This Point There Are No Plans To Designate Haqqani Network As A Foreign Terrorist Outfit, Says White House
Washington: The US has slapped sanctions on Badruddin Haqqani, a "dangerous" commander of Pakistan-based Haqqani network, in a bid to check the flow of financial and other aid to him, though it said it currently had no plans to designate the al-Qaida-linked group as a foreign terrorist organisation.
"As a result of the designation (of Badruddin), all property subject to US jurisdiction in which Badruddin Haqqani has any interest is blocked and US persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him," the state department said in a statement after secretary of state Hillary Clinton slapped sanctions on him last night. This action will help stem the flow of financial and other assistance to this "dangerous individual", it said.
However, state department spokesman, Mark Toner, said that "at this point there are no plans to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organisation. As you know, we don't generally talk about that process."
"Our actions are focused on targeting the key individuals within the Haqqani network and, again, isolating them, limiting their access to financing and et cetera."
"We believe that they may have some logistical role in helping in the bombings in India," Congressman Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in response to a question at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a Washington-based eminent think tank.
Rogers, who is being briefed regularly by the American intelligence agencies including the CIA, however, did not specify any particular terrorist attacks inside India, but apparently was referring to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
This is possibly for the first time that the name of the Haqqani network has figured in connection with any terror- related activity in India.
Badruddin Haqqani is an operational commander for the Haqqani network, a Taliban-affiliated al-Qaida-linked militant group that operates from Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency. PTI
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