Negroponte arrives in Islamabad, may discuss next steps against LeT

Islamabad, Dec.11 (ANI): US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has arrived in the Pakistan capital, and is expected to discuss the latest situation on ground vis-à-vis relations between Pakistan and India, especially in the context of last month's terror attacks in Mumbai.

According to Geo News, Negroponte will hold discussions with President Asif Ali Zardari and other top Pakistani officials.

His visit assumes significance in the wake of the United States demanding that Pakistan launch an effective crackdown on terrorists and militant organizations operating from its soil in the name Islam.

His visit comes a day after Pakistan's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon charged a United Nations Security Council committee of failing to contact the Pakistani mission before going ahead with the imposition of sanctions on three Pakistani citizens, labelled as terrorists and organizations allegedly linked to militant activities.

Haroon told GEO News that UN's committee had reviewed many names even before he assumed ambassadorship.

Pakistan, he said, would abide by committee's decisions, he said, but under protest.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has reportedly banned the political wing of the banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

The Security Council has also declared it a terrorist organization.

A committee of the UN Security Council placed financial sanctions on four members of the LeT, as well as the charitable organization that Indian and U.S. officials say serves as the Lashkar's financial front, according to the U.N.

The four members are Hafiz Saeed, the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba; Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, its chief of operations; and two finance officials, Haji Mohammad Ashraf and Mahmoud Ahmed Bahaziq.

The US Treasury Department had imposed sanctions against the same four persons in May. The UN sanctions include the mandatory freezing of assets and travel bans.

Earlier, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, had confirmed that India has approached to UN Security Council to get Jamaat-ud-Dawa banned.

He said that Pakistan is ready to ban the suspected outfit if the UN requests Islamabad to do so, adding that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa's bank accounts could also be freezed.

The Pakistan envoy's missive came as a tough-talking India urged the UN Security Council to declare the Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist outfit.

During the course of a debate at the Security Council on terrorism, India's Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed asserted without naming Pakistan that the country, from where the terrorist attack originated and was planned, should take immediate steps to stop their operations.

India and the US have said that the Lashkar-e-Toiba and its leaders are involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

India in a letter Friday had formally asked the UN Security Council to declare the Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist outfit. It also demanded that its leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed be placed under the Security Council list of global terrorists.

The November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks dominated the proceedings of this special meeting of the Security Council, wherein member nations not only condemned the heinous attack, but also underlined the need to bring those responsible for it to justice. (ANI)