US Senators demand 'terror outfit' Pak Taliban be blacklisted

Washington, June 23 (ANI): US Senators have demanded from the Obama administration to include the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the list of proscribed militant outfits following Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square bomber, pleading guilty and admiting to having received funds and training from the TTP.

The senators, all from New York and New Jersey, said that they would introduce a bill requiring the State Department to designate the Pakistani Taliban a "foreign terrorist organisation".

"Now that the Times Square terrorist has pleaded guilty in court, it is time to take the next step by confronting the organisation that aided and abetted him," said Democrat Senator Charles Schumer.

Schumer along with other Democrats such as Kirsten Gillibrand, Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in this regard.

Earlier, speaking to media persons during a regular briefing State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said that the Obama administration is already reviewing the possibility of banning the TTP.

"This is not something that we're ignoring. We're actively considering this as we pledged months ago. And we would expect to complete this process relatively soon and we would not see a legislative remedy here as being necessary," The Daily Times quoted Crowley, as saying.

Once included in the blacklist, which currently contains 45 organisations, the TTP's assets in the US (if any) would be frozen along with imposition of travel and financial sanctions on its members. (ANI)