US puts chief of al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent on terror list

Last December, The Indian Express first reported that Umar is from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and was known as Sanaul Haq. He attended the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary before moving to Pakistan in the late 1990s.

WATCH VIDEO: The US Designates Al-Qaeda In The Indian Subcontinent As A “Foreign Terrorist Organisation”

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The US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism announced the designation Thursday, coinciding with the visit to India by US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon. He met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and NSA Ajit K Doval, a day after meeting counterpart Foreign Secretary

S Jaishankar. The designation is done by the US Secretary of State and the practice has been followed since 2001.

“Today’s action notifies the US public and the international community that AQIS and Umar are actively engaged in terrorism. Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system. Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other US agencies and other governments,” a US State Department spokesperson said.

Following the announcement, a South Block official said: “This reflects the close and strong counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries, which has been elevated in recent years.”

Sources said Indian security and intelligence agencies have worked closely with American counterparts to provide information on AQIS and Umar, which formed the basis for the designation.

Officials pointed out that the recent Indo-US joint statement said that the leaders of the two countries committed to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from extremist groups such as Al-Qa’ida, Da’esh/ISIL, Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, D Company and their affiliates, including through deepened collaboration on UN terrorist designations.

“AQIS was one of the entities which is seen as a common threat. So this move is the logical next step,” a source told The Indian Express.

The State Department’s designation prohibits US citizens from engaging in transactions with AQIS and Umar and the freezing of all of their properties and interests in the US, or which come within US or possession of control of US persons, the State Department statement said.

The consequences of AQIS designation include a prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to the organisation, the statement said.

Umar is a former member of another US designated FTO, Harkat ul-Mujahideen.

AQIS has claimed responsibility for the September 6, 2014 attack on a naval dockyard in Karachi in which militants attempted to hijack a Pakistani Navy frigate. It has also claimed responsibility for the killing of activists and writers in Bangladesh, including US citizen Avijit Roy, US Embassy employee Xulhaz Mannan, and of Bangladeshi nationals Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Ahmed Rajib Haideer and A K M Shafiul Islam.