 "US puts sanctions on Pakistani madrassa for links with LeT")
The US has imposed sanctions on a Pakistani madrassa being used for training bomb makers and suicide attackers for the LeT and Al-Qaeda, the first time such action has been taken against a seminary.
Ganj Madrassa in the northwestern city of Peshawar, officially known as Jamia Taleem-Ul-Quran-Wal-Hadith Madrassa, is the first seminary to be designated a terrorist organisation by the US. The sanctions forbid Americans from having any business interaction with it.
The US Treasury said Ganj Madrassa was being used as a training and recruiting base by Al Qaeda, Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166.
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Under the garb of religious education, students at the seminary are being trained to become bomb makers and suicide bombers for the three banned groups, the Treasury said. The seminary also facilitates funding for the groups.
A Pakistani security official confirmed that the religious school was hit with US sanctions.
The US Treasury said in a statement: "The activities of the Ganj Madrassa exemplify how terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-eTaiba, and the Taliban, subvert seemingly legitimate institutions, such as religious schools, to divert charitable donations meant for education to support violent acts." The head of the seminary, Fazeel-A-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammad Ameen Al-Peshawari alias Shaykh Aminullah, has been a US and UN-designated terrorist since 2009.
As recently as early 2013, Aminullah was recruiting for LeT at Ganj Madrassa and as of late 2012, he was hosting Al-Qaeda operatives there. Ganj Madrassa's administrator Haji Alam Sher denied the US charges and told PTI, "We are a religious school giving Islamic education to students and the US allegations are totally baseless.
"We are a small madrassa and we do not have space. So even if we try, we cannot give training to militants," he said.
The US also designated Umar Siddique Kathio Azmarai, Al Qaeda’s leader in Sindh and Balochistan, as a terrorist for facilitating the terror group.
He allegedly acted as a courier for Al Qaeda officials and managed logistics for family members of senior Al Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden.
This is a major move by the US to target people and institutions having links with outlawed groups. Washington had earlier announced a $10 million bounty for LeT founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the who lives openly in Lahore.