November 5, 2001	Monday	haba’an 18, 1422

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MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 4: Mutahidda Jihad Council (MJC), an alliance of Mujahideen groups battling the Indian rule over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, on Sunday condemned the US for freezing the accounts of another freedom-fighters’ group.

The MJC said that the US decision to freeze the accounts of Lashkar-i-Taiba was “unrealistic, unwise and biased, providing a base to strengthen India’s unending repression in Kashmir.”

The MJC is an alliance of 18 Mujahideen groups fighting for the liberation of Kashmir from Indian subjugation. Fifteen groups are its permanent members, and the three — Lashkar-i-Taiba, Jaish-i-Mohammad and Al-Badar, have an observer status.

The Bush administration had on Friday imposed stringent financial sanctions on the already declared terrorist organizations, which included, Pakistan-based Harkatul Mujahideen, fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

The move coincided with Attorney-General Ashcroft’s recommendation to the state department to designate those organizations whose accounts were frozen, including Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad, as terrorist organizations.

“Imposing a ban on three Mujahideen groups which have an effective role in the Kashmir Jihad one after the other is likely to strengthen the drive of the bellicose Indian government against the freedom-seeking Kashmiris,” observed the MJC at its meeting in the AJK capital. The meeting was presided by the alliance chief Syed Salahuddin.