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The Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group has renamed itself Tehrik-al-Furqan, fearing its inclusion in the U S State Department's list of terrorist groups, Online news agency reported on Thursday.
"We have reports that the Pakistan government is going to seal our offices and freeze our accounts all over the country," a Jaish official said.
A religious scholar, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, has been named the patron-in-chief of the Tehrik-al-Furqan, while Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Maulana Mazhar Shah will be the convenor of the new group.
Shamzai, who is considered a staunch supporter of the Taleban, had declared the 'opening of jihad' against the US.
"We have already withdrawn money from our bank accounts and reopened them in the names of our low-profile supporters instead of the front line leadership", the Jaish official maintained.
He said the workers and supporters of Al-Furqan have been asked to move to Afghanistan at short notice.
"Some 10,000 trained mujahideen of Al-Furqan are ready to enter Afghanistan any time to fight against US troops," the official said.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday said that the US was concerned over the activities of Jaish-e-Muhammad and was considering a ban on the group.
Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the terrorist strike against the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in Srinagar on October 1 in which 35 people were killed.
The Pakistani government had frozen the bank accounts of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Al-Rasheed Trust two weeks ago for their alleged links with Taleban and Osama bin Laden. The two organisations, however, deny the charges.
Indo-Asian News Service
The War on Terrorism: The Complete Coverage
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External Link: For further coverage, please visit www.saja.org/roundupsept11.html
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