01►Why is the Bank of New York Collecting Donations for a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization?
02►Did LeT Earthquake Relief Money Fund the London Airline Plot?
03►Pakistani Charity Under Scrutiny in Plot
04►Pakistan Denies Islamic Charity Link to UK Bomb Plot
05►Italy: Over 13,000 Potential Terrorist Targets ‚Under Control
Why is the Bank of New York Collecting Donations for a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization?
By Evan Kohlmann / Counterterrorism-Blog– As my colleague Victor Comras has written, this week, the U.S. State Department finally took the step of naming the Pakistani organizations Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Idara al-Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) as banned derivatives of the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity known as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET).
Last January, the Danish Institute of International Studies published a paper I wrote on the role of Islamic charitable groups in terrorist financing including a lengthy discussion of LET, Jamaat-ud-Dawa and IKK. These organizations have a militantly anti-American agenda and according to the U.S. Defense Department–provided direct assistance to Al-Qaida members fleeing Afghanistan in 2001.
Americans might be surprised to learn that–all along–the IKK has been collecting donations from inside the U.S. via the Wall Street branch of the Bank of New York (only steps away from the former site of the World Trade Center). The IKK’s website advertised this arrangement openly in English: „FOR TRANSFER OF FUNDS IN US DOLLARS… Please transfer the amount on the routing as follows: To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK. ONE WALL STREET, NEW YORK. NY 10286, USA.“
Any funds collected by the Bank of New York were then routed on to an „Islamic Banking Account“ held at Bank Alfalah Limited in Karachi, Pakistan. For IKK donors in Europe, a corresponding Euro routing system was also established, care of „Bayerische Hypo – und Veriensbank AG“ in Munich, Germany.
It remains to be seen whether the Bank of New York will finally close up shop in its dealings with Lashkar-e-Taiba as a result of the latest State Department designation. This case is a reminder that interdicting international terrorist financing remains a major ongoing challenge for U.S. banking institutions and regulators.
Did LeT Earthquake Relief Money Fund the London Airline Plot?
By Evan Kohlmann / Counterterrorism-Blog – An article in today’s New York Times suggests that Pakistani investigators have found a possible financial link between those arrested this week in connection with a would-be terrorist plot targeting U.S. airliners and a Pakistani militant group that, until just a few months ago, was raising money directly from the United States through the Wall Street branch of the Bank of New York.
The group in question, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is merely a cover name for the internationally-banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)–which has strong links to Al-Qaida and harbors a violently anti-American agenda. The relationship between the two groups is no secret, and even senior Pakistani government officials have acknowledged as much in media interviews. Last January, in a paper published by the Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS), I discussed the troubling continued existence of LeT/Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and its questionable role in providing „earthquake relief“ inside Pakistan.
My advice to the Pakistanis is the same now as it was then: „Pakistan must take care that a humanitarian disaster like October’s earthquake does not lead to a manmade disaster fomented by religious fanatics emboldened by the sudden spread of [Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s] populist message. At a time when Pakistan’s government is increasingly under siege by fundamentalist militants, it must take care to keep such NGOs and missionary charities at arms length – to avoid inadvertently becoming their next victim.“
More relevant excerpts from the paper as follows:
„Organizations such as IHH are quick to respond to natural disasters and other human catastrophes. Unfortunately, these groups often seek to use these situations to gain leverage with destitute Muslim refugees. In August 1999, when a devastating earthquake struck Turkey, IHH reached the affected zones, in some cases, even before the Turkish government. Friction quickly grew between authorities tasked with relief and independent Islamist “humanitarian” groups. Ultimately, Turkey was forced to ban the IHH from participating in earthquake aid efforts because it was counted among several “fundamentalist organizations” operating “secret bank accounts” that were refusing to allow local authorities to oversee the distribution of their aid resources.“
„A similar situation is now brewing in Pakistan following the catastrophic October 2005 earthquake. Prompted into action by public anger at the slow pace of aid to local refugees, a host of religious extremist organizations have stepped forward in hopes of filling the void and presenting themselves as populist alternatives to the secular rule of President Pervez Musharraf. One such group is the political wing of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) – an entity formerly known as Markaz Dawa wal-Irshad and currently operating under the name“Jamat-ud-Dawa” (“The Islamic Missionary Movement”).
The MDI/LeT was founded during the late 1980s as Muslims from across Central Asia and the Middle East were fighting together against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
After witnessing the formation of organized mujahideen units in Afghanistan – consequently – a group of Pakistani Muslim militants decided to “take[] a leaf from the book of [the] Afghans … [and] lit the torch of Jihad movement.” This new movement – which became eventually known as Lashkar-e-Taiba (a.k.a. “The Army of the Pure”, “The Army of Madinah”) – wascomprised of both intellectual and military components.
Markaz al-Dawa wal Irshad (MDI), the political wing of the LeT, was established first in 1986 for the purpose of “organi[zing] the Pakistanis participating in Afghan Jihad on one platform.”
According to internal documents published by LeT, the Pakistani founders of MDI “had [the] full co-operation of Arab Mujahideen who taught [them] the intricacies of Jihad and Qital [combat].”
On February 22, 1990, a group of Pakistani clerics and mujahideen commanders led by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed from the Ahl-e-Hadith movement in Pakistan “laid the foundation” for the MDI’s military wing (known as Lashkar-e-Taiba) with the joint establishment of their Camp Tango training facility in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.64 According to both Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and foreign recruits who joined Lashkar, one of the key individuals responsible for LeT’s formation and development was a prominent Saudi Al-Qaida member known as Shaykh Abu Abdel Aziz “Barbaros” (a.k.a. Abdelrahman al-Dosari).“
„Since its inception in 1990, the MDI’s military wing Lashkar-e-Taiba has participated in countless guerilla attacks on Indian soldiers, bombings of civilian and military targets in Jammu-Kashmir, and terrorist assaults on civilian targets in India proper, including a December 2000 attack on the Red Ford complex in Delhi, the Indian national capital.
Red Fort is considered a geographic landmark, featuring a museum and hosting thousands of tourists each year. According to LeT sources, a two-man Lashkar fidayeen (“suicide commando”) unit forced its way into Red Fort, opening fire indiscriminately inside the ancient, Mughal-built structure. The fidayeen squad reportedly killed two people and seriously wounded another – the senior commander of LeT Hafiz Muhammad Saeed later declared that the Red Fort attack was “a symbolic activity” intended to force India into withdrawing from Kashmir.66 In December 2001, the U.S. State Department officially named Lashkar-e-Taiba as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
In his public statement on the designation, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Lashkar of “seek[ing] to assault democracy, undermine peace and stability in South Asia, and destroy relations between India and Pakistan.” LeT’s political wing MDI was subsequently forced to change its name after it was identified in the same U.S. government designation as a “Sunni anti-US missionary organization” and part of LeT’s “fraternal network.'“
„Though the organization (currently known as Jamat-ud-Dawa) remains under the lead of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, it has somehow managed to survive Pakistani purges on Islamic
militants – perhaps by publicly disavowing any direct link to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Nonetheless, Jamat-ud-Dawa continues to push forward the agenda of LeT, including through charitable subsidiaries such as Idara Khidmat-e-Khalaq (a.k.a. “the Humanitarian Services Institution”). The mission behind the establishment of Idara Khidmat speaks volumes about the intentions of its founders. According to the website of Jamat-ud-Dawa, Idara Khidmat was formed in order to frustrate “certain hidden objectives” of other competing relief agencies from around the world:
In particular the aid donor institutions funded by the western countries are busy in preaching Christianity. They lure the people into meeting the basic needs of life to convert their faith avoiding argumentation. Africa is a special target of these Christian aid donor agencies. All the countries of South Asia in Middle East and Central Asia, western missionaries are engaged in changing the faith… Tsunami was the worst catastrophe of this century that rocked many countries.
More than twenty hundred thousands peoples were dead and hundreds of thousands were rendered homeless. Many aid-giving agencies reached this hour with their hideous traditional agenda and the news of their interest in making the people Christian instead of giving aid spread all over the world. Muslim orphan children of Ache were sent to Christian educational institutes and literature of Christianity was distributed. This conspiracy failed soon.
„Indeed, in the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster in East Asia, Idara Khidmat-e-Khalaq urged charitable donations and emphasized “[s]ome of the scholars are saying that it is imperative for all muslims do their bit for the relief efforts – for the sake of humanity as well as to compete with the non-muslim efforts.” In order to accomplish that goal, Idara Khidmat has likewise established “partnerships” with other suspect fundamentalist charities – including the previously discussed IHH in Turkey.
The designated recipients of support from Idara Khidmat admittedly include “relatives of martyrs” – presumably referring to the families of Pakistani mujahideen killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
Despite having been quick in the past to crack down on some suspected Arab-Afghan charitable front groups like Mercy International, Pakistani officials have not been as eager to crush the financial infrastructures of native militant groups like Jamat-ud-Dawa/Lashkar-e-Taiba. Despite having placed Jamat-ud-Dawa on a “terrorism watch list” in late 2003, Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao recently conceded during an interview that Jamat-ud-Dawa had nonetheless prospered by playing a key role in “the lifeline of our rescue and relief work.”
Sherpao was quick to insist that Jamat-ud-Dawa was “only involved in extensive charity work, and their footprint now covers almost the entire quake-affected zone in the country.”74 Sherpao’s comments reflect the surprising degree of deference paid to Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and his colleagues by the Pakistani government.
Perhaps Pakistani President Musharraf hopes to blunt the wrath of fundamentalist Pakistani militants by permitting them to continue on in a limited national role. Undoubtedly, given the desperation of thousands of Pakistani earthquake refugees, he seeks to avoid being accused by “domestic Islamic organizations” of “attacking legitimate Islamic institutions and intentionally hampering relief efforts.’”
„However, any strategy by Musharraf that offers legitimacy to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamat-ud-Dawa, or Idara al-Khidmat also carries with it major risks. One cannot but recall the prophetic warning of the Bosnian Muslim Military Intelligence Service in 1995 about the “polarizing” effect of extremist NGOs and the “far reaching damaging consequences” of tolerating them.
In a time of national emergency, no genuine, unconditional aid can logically be refused. But Pakistan must take care that a humanitarian disaster like October’s earthquake does not lead to a manmade disaster fomented by religious fanatics emboldened by the sudden spread of their populist message. At a time when Pakistan’s government is increasingly under siege by fundamentalist militants, it must take care to keep such NGOs and missionary charities at arms length – to avoid inadvertently becoming their next victim.“
Pakistani Charity Under Scrutiny in Plot
By Dexter Filkins & Souad Mekhennet /// New York Times, Aug. 13 – British and Pakistani investigators are trying to determine whether the group of Britons suspected of plotting to blow up as many as 10 commercial airliners may have received money raised for earthquake relief by a Pakistani charity that is a front for an Islamic militant group.
The charity, Jamaat ud Dawa, which is active in the mosques of Britain’s largest cities, played a significant role in carrying out relief efforts after last October’s earthquake in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
It is one of the most militant of the groups battling the part of Kashmir controlled by India. In May, it was labeled a terrorist organization by the United States government.
British and Pakistani investigators are looking into the possibility that the group, whose name means the Association of the Call to Righteousness, passed the earthquake donations raised in British mosques to the plotters, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
One former Pakistani official close to the intelligence officials there said Jamaat ud Dawa provided the money that was to be used to buy plane tickets for the suspects to conduct a practice run as well as the attacks themselves. The money is believed to have come directly from the group’s network in Britain and was not sent from Pakistan, the former official said.
“The Pakistanis have been asked by the British to examine the links between Jamaat ud Dawa and the suspects in the airplane attack,” the former Pakistani official said.
According to a former British security official familiar with the investigation, some of the money raised in British mosques also went to the group’s militant activities in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Both the former Pakistani official and the former British official spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, Pakistani officials detained Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the head of the organization.
On Sunday, a senior American law enforcement official said that the British police and intelligence officials had identified several suspected accomplices of the plotters who were believed to have provided support to the plot outside Britain. The new suspects were identified by checking the arrested men’s computers, the official said.
After the earthquake, which killed some 73,000 people, Jamaat ud Dawa raised funds in British Pakistani areas in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The group also urged British people of Pakistani origin to go to the region to help in the relief efforts, and hundreds did.
Several of the 23 suspects still in custody after the arrests by British police on Thursday — most of them Britons of Pakistani descent — traveled to Pakistan last year, ostensibly to help with earthquake relief efforts, said Nasir Ahmed, a leader among Britain’s Pakistanis and a member of the House of Lords.
Mr. Ahmed said he was not sure how many of the suspects rounded up last week had gone to Kashmir to help, but among those who had gone were the suspects arrested in High Wycombe, west of London. The former Pakistani official said several of the suspects had gone to Pakistan at the time of the earthquake.
The official declined to say whether the suspects were believed to have been organizers or people who had provided support, like passports and safe houses.
Mr. Ahmed said it was possible that those who went came into contact with the militant Islamic organizations that were doing the relief work on the Pakistani-controlled side of Kashmir, where most of the casualties were. Indeed, at the time, Jamaat ud Dawa was welcomed by people in the area for stepping in where the Pakistani government had failed. The group was praised as one of the few providing aid efficiently, while Muslims around the world complained that Pakistanis had been abandoned.
“In the first few days, it was only religious organizations, the militant organizations, that were prepared to dig out people and provide relief supplies,” Mr. Ahmed said. “It is possible that young people, many people, who have gone from U.K., may have fallen into hands of organizations like Jamaat Ud Dawa.”
As both a militant group and a social welfare organization, Jamaat ud Dawa resembles its brethren in other parts of the Muslim world, like Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States government shut down many Muslim charities that it said were financing militant activities.
No one from Jamaat ud Dawa could be located Sunday in Britain. Its Web site says the organization has provided food to some 54,000 families who were struck by the earthquake. It also claims to be “one of the most feared militant groups fighting in Kashmir.” The Web site displays a photograph of Mr. Saeed leading a demonstration protesting the United States government’s designation of his group as a terrorist organization.
The details of the suspected plot to blow up the airliners began to emerge Thursday, when the police in Britain detained 24 people. The authorities said the suspects, most of them British-born young men of Pakistani descent, intended to smuggle liquid-based explosives onto 9 or 10 commercial airliners headed for the United States and detonate them as they approached. British officials said the plot, had it been successful, could have killed thousands.
The day before, on Wednesday, the police in Pakistan had arrested a British-born man they said was linked to Al Qaeda. They say they have at least one other British man in custody and are looking for at least one other suspect.
American and Pakistani officials have long believed that Jamaat ud Dawa is the successor organization to Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was banned in 2002 by the Pakistani government, under American pressure, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
It has called for holy war against the United States, India and Israel. Although it has avoided direct association with Al Qaeda, links between the groups have often surfaced. Abu Zubaida, the senior Qaeda member captured by Pakistani forces in the city Faisalabad in 2002, was found hiding in a safe house for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistan Denies Islamic Charity Link to UK Bomb Plot
By Benjamin Sand 15 August – Pakistan has rejected recent news reports linking a local charity with the alleged plan to blow up passenger planes headed to the United States from Britain. Officials insist money donated for earthquake relief did not fund suspected terrorists.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told reporters the allegations that money was diverted from charities to terror groups are completely baseless.
„These are all absurd stories. The objective is to malign Pakistan and to cast a shadow on the efforts made by Pakistan to uncover and foil this terrorist plot,“ she said.
The New York Times and Washington Post newspapers published stories this week suggesting a Pakistani charity, Jamaat ud-Dawa, may have provided funds for the alleged bomb plot.
Authorities in London are reportedly investigating an unnamed Pakistani charity with offices in Britain.
Britain is holding 23 people for questioning in connection with the broader investigation into the alleged bomb plot.
Pakistan, which has been credited with helping uncover the plan, has also arrested at least 17 other suspects, including a British citizen with alleged ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network.
The New York Times also said this week that Pakistani authorities are exploring a possible link between the suspects and the Jamaat ud-Dawa charity.
The United States has banned the charity as a terrorist organization on the grounds that it has links with the Pakistani Islamic militant group Lashkar-e Tayyiba, which is a State Department designated terrorist organization.
Lashkar-e Tayyiba is one of the largest groups fighting Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. U.S. officials accuse the group of maintaining ties with al-Qaida. Pakistan banned the organization in 2002 for links to terrorism.
Despite those concerns, Jamaat ud-Dawa, the charity, operated relief camps in Kashmir following last year’s deadly earthquake.
Jamaat ud-Dawa has denied funding any terrorist activities. It has also denied claims in The New York Times that it raises funds in mosques in Britain.
Don Van Natta contributed reporting from New Jersey for this article.
Italy: Over 13,000 Potential Terrorist Targets Under Control
August (AKI) – Security services in Italy are keeping under surveillance some 13,664 potential terrorist targets and have deployed some 19,559 operatives to do the job, the Interior Ministry announced on Monday. In the wake of last week’s foiled bomb plot at London’s airports securty measures in Italy have been „additionally reinforced,“ the ministry said in its latest report on security in the country.
Security at potential targets such as airports has come under greater scrutiny, and with British authorities arresting alleged Muslim extremists in connection with with the plane bombing plot, Italian police have also stepped up controls at „meeting points used by the Islamic community, call centres, Internet points and Islamic butcher shops,“ the ministry report said.
In recent months police have been able to deploy more agents to monitor terrorism threats by cutting down on the number of staff previoulsy involved in security escort duties from 3,116 to 2,686, the report said.
Over the last year security agents had identified 82,752 terrrorism suspects, reported 1,508 to the judicial authorities and arrested 618. In addition deportation procedures were in place for 2,012 foreign citizens, of whom 55 have already been expelled from Italy.
Since the beginning of August deportation procedures have started against seven North Africans – one Moroccan, three Algerians and three Tunisians – previously detained but released due to a recently introduced general amnesty. The seven are believed to be linked to „international terrorism cells,“ the report said.
The London Terror Gang II
The London Terror Gang I
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