Designation of Lashkar I Jhangvi as Terror Org.

Designation of Lashkar I Jhangvi as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Secretary Colin L. Powell Washington, DC January 30, 2003

Today I am taking another important step in our campaign to eliminate the scourge of terrorism. I am designating the Lashkar I Jhangvi as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law. I am also adding the group to those already covered by Executive Order 13224.

Lashkar I Jhangvi is a violent Sunni Muslim group located in Pakistan. It is responsible for numerous deadly attacks, and its involvement in the January 2002 kidnapping and killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl has been confirmed. The group has perpetrated bus and church bombings. It claimed responsibility for the 1997 killing of four American oil workers in Karachi. Lashkar I Jhangvi also attempted to assassinate then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.

By designating this group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and publishing that decision today in the Federal Register, we implement the provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. This Act makes it illegal for persons in the United States or subject to U.S. jurisdiction to provide material support to designated terrorist groups; it requires U.S. financial institutions to block assets held by them; and it enables us to deny visas to representatives of these groups. I made this decision in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury after an exhaustive review of the group's violent activities.

The Government of Pakistan has already designated the Lashkar I Jhangvi a terrorist organization, and we look forward to working with Pakistani authorities to shut this group down. [End]

Released on January 30, 2003

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