RAWALPINDI / LONDON, July 17: The Baloch Liberation Army on Thursday faced a joint onslaught of the Pakistani and British governments when the former decided to freeze bank accounts of its members and the latter designated it as a terrorist organisation.
Sources told Dawn that the finance ministry had been told to freeze the bank accounts of at least 45 BLA members, including some women members.
They said that law-enforcement agencies had also been directed to keep a watchful eye on the 45 members of the BLA, which was banned by Islamabad a couple of months ago.
It was not immediately clear how the government got a list of 45 BLA members and who the members are.
According to Reuters, the BLA was one of the four organisations added by London to its list of terrorist groups. The other three organisations are Al Ghurabaa, The Saved Sect and the Teyrebazen Azadiya Kurdistan or the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks.
The sources told Dawn that proscription of the BLA by Britain coincided with Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao’s visit to London.
The British government said the groups had been disseminating provocative extremist Islamic messages primarily via the Internet.
“I am determined to act against those who, while not directly involved in committing acts of terrorism, provide support for and make statements that glorify, celebrate and exalt the atrocities of terrorist groups,” said Home Secretary John Reid.
