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Lashkar, Jaish not on US terror list

The latest report on the foreign terrorist organisations released by Washington on Friday must have come as a blow to New Delhi.

For neither the Lashkar-e-Tayiba nor the Jaish-e-Mohammed, responsible for innumerable terrorist acts on Indian soil, is on that list.

Other than indicating that terrorism in Kashmir is not on the US agenda at the moment, some analysts feel it is perhaps an attempt not to antagonise Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, America's latest ally in it's war against Osama bin Laden. Both these organisations have their headquarters in Pakistan.

The report was released by the office of the coordinator for counterrorism, headed by Francis X Taylor, on October 5.

According to a press release, the secretary of state designates foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs), in consultation with the attorney general and the secretary of the treasury. The designations are valid for two years, after which they must be redesignated or they automatically expire.

Once an organisation is designated as terrorist, US financial institutions must block funds of designated FTOs and their agents and report the blockage to office of Foreign Assets Control.

"Redesignation after two years is a positive act and represents a determination by the Secretary of State that the organization has continued to engage in terrorist activity and still meets the criteria specified in law," it says.

The first list of 30 terrorist organisations was released by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright in October 1997. Two years later, she re-certified 27 of these groups' designations, but allowed three organisations to drop as they no longer met the criteria for designation.

Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaida was added to the list in 1999, after the bombing of the US embassies in Africa.

The Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organisations (as of October 5, 2001):

1. Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
2. Abu Sayyaf Group
3. Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
4. Aum Shinrikyo
5. Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
6. Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
7. HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
8. Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
9. Hizballah (Party of God)
10. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
11. al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
12. Kahane Chai (Kach)
13. Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
14. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
15. Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
16. National Liberation Army (ELN)
17. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
18. Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
19. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
20. PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
21. al-Qa'ida
22. Real IRA
23. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
24. Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
25. Revolutionary Organization 17 November
26. Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front (DHKP/C)
27. Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
28. United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)

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