Pakistan facing EU economic sanctions over admission of support to terror groups

[Pride of the Pigeons]

Senior European Union officials are alarmed over statements made by Pakistan Punjab's Law Minister Rana Sanaullah in which he has admitted that Pakistan is involved with terror groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and the Jaish e Mohammad (JeM).

The minister made these comments in an interview to the BBC's Urdu Service and they have been extensively reported across Europe and especially in Brussels which recently witnessed horrific terror attacks at the hands of Islamic terrorists.

The European Union has been cracking down on militant groups and the comments made by the law minister of Pakistan's Punjab province has both shocked officials and leaders to the point that they have started a "a process to slam economic sanctions on Pakistan " if the linkage to terror groups as admitted by Rana Sanaullah turn out to be accurate.

The EU has asked its representatives in Pakistan to investigate the comments made by Rana Sanaullah questioning "how can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?"

These comments once verified and confirmed by the EU's Pakistan representatives will trigger a process by which economic sanctions, including a ban on aviation landing rights, could be imposed on Pakistan.

In what is being seen as "immediate and effective" action by European governments, highly placed sources in Brussels said, "Post the Brussels attacks, everything has changed in Europe. 32 persons were killed on March 22 by Islamic militants in Brussels in twin blasts at Zaventem International Airport and another attack at Maelbeek Metro Station - close to several EU institutions ".

In this changed scenario, the EU cannot accept the comments made by the Pakistani minister, and to " begin with, it will ban landing rights for Pakistani Airlines to the European Union ".

EU sources who are involved with coordinating the security crackdown and arrests in Belgium, France and Germany told ANI that these comments of state support to proscribed terror groups like the JuD and JeM by a senior Pakistani Minister are " nothing short of self admission of guilt and need to be taken at face value ".

Sources added, "these are not media reports which we can brush aside, but comments made by an individual, who is perhaps, is involved with these groups and, we need to take them very seriously ".

The European Union is one of Pakistan's leading trading blocs and in the past has been liberal in it's outlook towards Pakistan's support to terror groups.

However, post the Brussels attacks of March 22 in which over 340 persons were injured and 32 killed, the situation has completely changed.

This comment by Rana Sanaullah is the first official comment linking Pakistan to terror groups and within hours of the comment the EU has galvanised itself into action to start the process of "determination of veracity of these official comments which will trigger economic and aviation sanctions on Pakistan ".

Officials also said that the admission that the Pakistani state was involved with terror groups will bring to sharp focus the legitimacy of Pakistani origin migrants in European countries. They will come in for closer scrutiny during travels and when they apply for naturalisation and visas.

 

[Laozi]

 

[RoadRunner401]

link please.

 

[Dr Gupta]

nothing new here it was said many years ago by the Punjab chief minister on TV

Unreported World is granted rare access to the Pakistan headquarters of what the US and UN say is a front organisation for one of the world's biggest terrorist networks, and the organisation behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

While the group says it's a charity set up to help the poor, reporter Evan Williams talks to insiders, government ministers and terrorism experts to investigate the truth about an organisation that has expanded its activities from Kashmir to attacking western targets outside Pakistan.

Williams and director Will West begin their journey in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province. They have a meeting with Asadullah, a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba - 'The Army of the Righteous'. The terrorist organisation has been directly blamed for the Mumbai attacks that killed 173 people, and a string of other deadly attacks in India. Asadullah tells Williams he and 26 friends fought in Kashmir, but he was the only one who survived.

Lashkar's terrorist activities led to it being banned in Pakistan. But the United Nations says it is now operating in the country under a new name - Jamaat-ud-Dawa - and the UN continues to view it as a terrorist front organisation. JuD claims it is no more than an Islamic charity, and denies it is a front for Lashkar and its terrorism.

Williams and West travel to a village on the outskirts of Lahore. It was once a Lashkar military training camp, but now it is the JuD headquarters. They've been granted very rare access to the organisation's facilities.

Opponents claim that this centre is used to raise funds that are then channelled into terrorism - a claim denied by JuD. Senior members of the organisation, together with a government official, show the team around, stressing the charitable work they say they carry out, including providing medical care and education for thousands of nearby villagers.

Their spokesperson says that supplies are donated by supportive businesses across Pakistan. He also says that India was behind the decision to label the group a terrorist organisation, and that it is completely separate to Lashkar. However, the group's leaders get jumpy at growing disquiet with the team's presence, telling Williams and West that they can no longer guarantee their safety. The team is then escorted out of the compound.

Back in Lahore, Williams talks to one of the country's most authoritative writers, Ahmed Rashid. He says that every time Lashkar has come under pressure, it changes its name and closes its bank accounts, before opening up a new office and new account and reappearing in a new light. He claims everyone still calls Jamaat-ud-Dawa Lashkar-e-Taiba because that's what they are.

The team follows up this claim in a meeting with Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab's Law Minister, and asks him why, when the rest of the world says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for terrorism, the Pakistani government tolerates them. Khan says that, although many people in JuD do good work, it's not just a charity. He claims that some JuD people are carrying out terrorist activities in Kashmir, but that he fears that if the organisation was banned, it would respond with a wave of suicide attacks.

The strength of the organisation is clear when the team visits the group's main mosque, which, a spokesman says, on a good day has up to 10,000 people.

To hear another view on why JuD is allowed to continue in Pakistan, Unreported World meets the former intelligence chief who was responsible for setting up many of Pakistan's militant groups. Hamid Gul is now retired but remains politically involved in the struggle for Kashmir.

He tells Williams that if Islamist militants triumph in neighbouring Afghanistan, a new wave of radicalised fighters will turn their attention to Kashmir. 'There will be uprising in Kashmir, massive uprising,' he says. 'Maybe it will lead to an armed conflict between the two countries - and then the Jihadis will be the right arm of the Pakistan army.'

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/episode-guide/series-2010/episode-3

The team follows up this claim in a meeting with Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab's Law Minister, and asks him why, when the rest of the world says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for terrorism, the Pakistani government tolerates them. Khan says that, although many people in JuD do good work, it's not just a charity. He claims that some JuD people are carrying out terrorist activities in Kashmir, but that he fears that if the organisation was banned, it would respond with a wave of suicide attacks.

 

[barbarosa]

Pakistan is habituate of these sanctions of Europe and USA. Never mind.

 

[Samlee]

nothing new here it was said many years ago by the Punjab chief minister on TV

Unreported World is granted rare access to the Pakistan headquarters of what the US and UN say is a front organisation for one of the world's biggest terrorist networks, and the organisation behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

While the group says it's a charity set up to help the poor, reporter Evan Williams talks to insiders, government ministers and terrorism experts to investigate the truth about an organisation that has expanded its activities from Kashmir to attacking western targets outside Pakistan.

Williams and director Will West begin their journey in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province. They have a meeting with Asadullah, a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba - 'The Army of the Righteous'. The terrorist organisation has been directly blamed for the Mumbai attacks that killed 173 people, and a string of other deadly attacks in India. Asadullah tells Williams he and 26 friends fought in Kashmir, but he was the only one who survived.

Lashkar's terrorist activities led to it being banned in Pakistan. But the United Nations says it is now operating in the country under a new name - Jamaat-ud-Dawa - and the UN continues to view it as a terrorist front organisation. JuD claims it is no more than an Islamic charity, and denies it is a front for Lashkar and its terrorism.

Williams and West travel to a village on the outskirts of Lahore. It was once a Lashkar military training camp, but now it is the JuD headquarters. They've been granted very rare access to the organisation's facilities.

Opponents claim that this centre is used to raise funds that are then channelled into terrorism - a claim denied by JuD. Senior members of the organisation, together with a government official, show the team around, stressing the charitable work they say they carry out, including providing medical care and education for thousands of nearby villagers.

Their spokesperson says that supplies are donated by supportive businesses across Pakistan. He also says that India was behind the decision to label the group a terrorist organisation, and that it is completely separate to Lashkar. However, the group's leaders get jumpy at growing disquiet with the team's presence, telling Williams and West that they can no longer guarantee their safety. The team is then escorted out of the compound.

Back in Lahore, Williams talks to one of the country's most authoritative writers, Ahmed Rashid. He says that every time Lashkar has come under pressure, it changes its name and closes its bank accounts, before opening up a new office and new account and reappearing in a new light. He claims everyone still calls Jamaat-ud-Dawa Lashkar-e-Taiba because that's what they are.

The team follows up this claim in a meeting with Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab's Law Minister, and asks him why, when the rest of the world says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for terrorism, the Pakistani government tolerates them. Khan says that, although many people in JuD do good work, it's not just a charity. He claims that some JuD people are carrying out terrorist activities in Kashmir, but that he fears that if the organisation was banned, it would respond with a wave of suicide attacks.

The strength of the organisation is clear when the team visits the group's main mosque, which, a spokesman says, on a good day has up to 10,000 people.

To hear another view on why JuD is allowed to continue in Pakistan, Unreported World meets the former intelligence chief who was responsible for setting up many of Pakistan's militant groups. Hamid Gul is now retired but remains politically involved in the struggle for Kashmir.

He tells Williams that if Islamist militants triumph in neighbouring Afghanistan, a new wave of radicalised fighters will turn their attention to Kashmir. 'There will be uprising in Kashmir, massive uprising,' he says. 'Maybe it will lead to an armed conflict between the two countries - and then the Jihadis will be the right arm of the Pakistan army.'

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/episode-guide/series-2010/episode-3

The team follows up this claim in a meeting with Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab's Law Minister, and asks him why, when the rest of the world says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for terrorism, the Pakistani government tolerates them. Khan says that, although many people in JuD do good work, it's not just a charity. He claims that some JuD people are carrying out terrorist activities in Kashmir, but that he fears that if the organisation was banned, it would respond with a wave of suicide attacks.

The Group Has Been Banned Twice And They Have Not Conducted Any Such Thing

 

[Dr Gupta]

The Group Has Been Banned Twice And They Have Not Conducted Any Such Thing

They still out in the open and continue their charity work nothing really has changed on the ground and there will not be no EU sanctions either. Business as usual nothing else.

Real action has not be taken in South Punjab, the Madrassa's continue to operate. What was interesting is that now they are even providing their own ambulance services which I saw on the Lahore attack.

 

[Samlee]

Senior European Union officials are alarmed over statements made by Pakistan Punjab's Law Minister Rana Sanaullah in which he has admitted that Pakistan is involved with terror groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and the Jaish e Mohammad (JeM).

The minister made these comments in an interview to the BBC's Urdu Service and they have been extensively reported across Europe and especially in Brussels which recently witnessed horrific terror attacks at the hands of Islamic terrorists.

The European Union has been cracking down on militant groups and the comments made by the law minister of Pakistan's Punjab province has both shocked officials and leaders to the point that they have started a "a process to slam economic sanctions on Pakistan " if the linkage to terror groups as admitted by Rana Sanaullah turn out to be accurate.

The EU has asked its representatives in Pakistan to investigate the comments made by Rana Sanaullah questioning "how can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?"

These comments once verified and confirmed by the EU's Pakistan representatives will trigger a process by which economic sanctions, including a ban on aviation landing rights, could be imposed on Pakistan.

In what is being seen as "immediate and effective" action by European governments, highly placed sources in Brussels said, "Post the Brussels attacks, everything has changed in Europe. 32 persons were killed on March 22 by Islamic militants in Brussels in twin blasts at Zaventem International Airport and another attack at Maelbeek Metro Station - close to several EU institutions ".

In this changed scenario, the EU cannot accept the comments made by the Pakistani minister, and to " begin with, it will ban landing rights for Pakistani Airlines to the European Union ".

EU sources who are involved with coordinating the security crackdown and arrests in Belgium, France and Germany told ANI that these comments of state support to proscribed terror groups like the JuD and JeM by a senior Pakistani Minister are " nothing short of self admission of guilt and need to be taken at face value ".

Sources added, "these are not media reports which we can brush aside, but comments made by an individual, who is perhaps, is involved with these groups and, we need to take them very seriously ".

The European Union is one of Pakistan's leading trading blocs and in the past has been liberal in it's outlook towards Pakistan's support to terror groups.

However, post the Brussels attacks of March 22 in which over 340 persons were injured and 32 killed, the situation has completely changed.

This comment by Rana Sanaullah is the first official comment linking Pakistan to terror groups and within hours of the comment the EU has galvanised itself into action to start the process of "determination of veracity of these official comments which will trigger economic and aviation sanctions on Pakistan ".

Officials also said that the admission that the Pakistani state was involved with terror groups will bring to sharp focus the legitimacy of Pakistani origin migrants in European countries. They will come in for closer scrutiny during travels and when they apply for naturalisation and visas.

You Have Not Provided Any Link or Credible Reference Just Goes To Show It Is Just A Indian Wet Dream

 

[Dr Gupta]

he WSJ report cites the experts, as saying that madrassas in the less-developed south of Punjab, districts like Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan, serve as a nursery for jihadist groups by teaching the hard-line Deobandi version of Islam, a puritan Sunni movement that is followed by the Pakistani Taliban and most other militant groups. To back this claim, the report says the banned extremist group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is constructing a new madrassa on a 10-acre plot of land located off the highway on the outskirts of Bahalwalpur town.

It quoted a JeM cleric, as saying, “We don’t hide who we are. We are a jihadist group.”

 

[Samlee]

They still out in the open and continue their charity work nothing really has changed on the ground and there will not be no EU sanctions either. Business as usual nothing else.

Real action has not be taken in South Punjab, the Madrassa's continue to operate. What was interesting is that now they are even providing their own ambulance services which I saw on the Lahore attack.

When Zarb e Azb Started Raids Were Conducted in Certain Parts of South Punjab
After The Lahore Incident The Military Had Launched A Massive Crackdown in South Punjab And This Has Been Continuing Under A Post Zarb e Azb Combing Operation

 

[Dr Gupta]

When Zarb e Azb Started Raids Were Conducted in Certain Parts of South Punjab
After The Lahore Incident The Military Had Launched A Massive Crackdown in South Punjab And This Has Been Continuing Under A Post Zarb e Azb Combing Operation

Well that is a matter of opinion many in Pakistan are saying that they are not doing action on some groups.

http://thediplomat.com/2016/04/militancy-in-punjab/

Militancy in Punjab
The recent bombing in Lahore underscores the problem with militancy in Pakistan’s most populous province.

By Muhammad Akbar Notezai

 

[ShoutB]

nothing new here it was said many years ago by the Punjab chief minister on TV

Unreported World is granted rare access to the Pakistan headquarters of what the US and UN say is a front organisation for one of the world's biggest terrorist networks, and the organisation behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

While the group says it's a charity set up to help the poor, reporter Evan Williams talks to insiders, government ministers and terrorism experts to investigate the truth about an organisation that has expanded its activities from Kashmir to attacking western targets outside Pakistan.

Williams and director Will West begin their journey in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province. They have a meeting with Asadullah, a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba - 'The Army of the Righteous'. The terrorist organisation has been directly blamed for the Mumbai attacks that killed 173 people, and a string of other deadly attacks in India. Asadullah tells Williams he and 26 friends fought in Kashmir, but he was the only one who survived.

Lashkar's terrorist activities led to it being banned in Pakistan. But the United Nations says it is now operating in the country under a new name - Jamaat-ud-Dawa - and the UN continues to view it as a terrorist front organisation. JuD claims it is no more than an Islamic charity, and denies it is a front for Lashkar and its terrorism.

Williams and West travel to a village on the outskirts of Lahore. It was once a Lashkar military training camp, but now it is the JuD headquarters. They've been granted very rare access to the organisation's facilities.

Opponents claim that this centre is used to raise funds that are then channelled into terrorism - a claim denied by JuD. Senior members of the organisation, together with a government official, show the team around, stressing the charitable work they say they carry out, including providing medical care and education for thousands of nearby villagers.

Their spokesperson says that supplies are donated by supportive businesses across Pakistan. He also says that India was behind the decision to label the group a terrorist organisation, and that it is completely separate to Lashkar. However, the group's leaders get jumpy at growing disquiet with the team's presence, telling Williams and West that they can no longer guarantee their safety. The team is then escorted out of the compound.

Back in Lahore, Williams talks to one of the country's most authoritative writers, Ahmed Rashid. He says that every time Lashkar has come under pressure, it changes its name and closes its bank accounts, before opening up a new office and new account and reappearing in a new light. He claims everyone still calls Jamaat-ud-Dawa Lashkar-e-Taiba because that's what they are.

The team follows up this claim in a meeting with Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab's Law Minister, and asks him why, when the rest of the world says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for terrorism, the Pakistani government tolerates them. Khan says that, although many people in JuD do good work, it's not just a charity. He claims that some JuD people are carrying out terrorist activities in Kashmir, but that he fears that if the organisation was banned, it would respond with a wave of suicide attacks.

The strength of the organisation is clear when the team visits the group's main mosque, which, a spokesman says, on a good day has up to 10,000 people.

To hear another view on why JuD is allowed to continue in Pakistan, Unreported World meets the former intelligence chief who was responsible for setting up many of Pakistan's militant groups. Hamid Gul is now retired but remains politically involved in the struggle for Kashmir.

He tells Williams that if Islamist militants triumph in neighbouring Afghanistan, a new wave of radicalised fighters will turn their attention to Kashmir. 'There will be uprising in Kashmir, massive uprising,' he says. 'Maybe it will lead to an armed conflict between the two countries - and then the Jihadis will be the right arm of the Pakistan army.'


The team follows up this claim in a meeting with Rana Sanaullah Khan, Punjab's Law Minister, and asks him why, when the rest of the world says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for terrorism, the Pakistani government tolerates them. Khan says that, although many people in JuD do good work, it's not just a charity. He claims that some JuD people are carrying out terrorist activities in Kashmir, but that he fears that if the organisation was banned, it would respond with a wave of suicide attacks.

many years ago there were no paris attacks no brussels attack .. that often. This is a big mistake. You have just made India's stand more reliable. Thank you

 

[Samlee]

Well that is a matter of opinion many in Pakistan are saying that they are not doing action on some groups.

http://thediplomat.com/2016/04/militancy-in-punjab/

Militancy in Punjab
The recent bombing in Lahore underscores the problem with militancy in Pakistan’s most populous province.

By Muhammad Akbar Notezai

Not Many Just A Few Presstitutes

 

[Talwar e Pakistan]

Real action has not be taken in South Punjab, the Madrassa's continue to operate. What was interesting is that now they are even providing their own ambulance services which I saw on the Lahore attack.

Yes they also pledged to protect the Hindu minority and warned against any demolition of Hindus temples; infact you can see many workers outside temples guarding or renovating them. Surely they are a very dangerous terrorist group.

 

[IceCold]

This is what happens when you have jahil patwaris running on important government positions such as law minister.