LAHORE: The United States has added the founder of a banned Pakistani militant group to its list of global terrorists, blaming him for the deaths of hundreds of Pakistanis.
Malik Ishaq is the founding member and leader of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), a banned Sunni Muslim organisation dedicated to killing or driving out Pakistan’s minority Shias.
“In 1997, Malik Ishaq admitted his involvement in terrorist activity that resulted in the deaths of over 100 Pakistanis,” the US State Department said on its Web site in a statement posted on Thursday.
It noted he had also been arrested in connection with twin bombings in the western Pakistani city of Quetta that killed about 200 people last year.
“LJ specialises in armed attacks and bombings and has admitted responsibility for numerous killings of Shia religious and civil society leaders in Pakistan,” the State Department said.
The designations means anyone who supports Ishaq or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi could have their assets frozen by the US government.
Ishaq’s deputy and spokesman said the decision to list Ishaq was the result of a conspiracy between the United States and Iran, a majority Shia country.
About 20 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people are Shia.
“The US administration took the step on Iran’s instigation,” said the spokesman, Hafiz Ghulam Rasool Shah.
REUTERS
