Hillary Clinton

Washington, Sept. 15: The Obama administration today designated the Indian Mujahideen as a foreign terrorist organisation and a specially designated global terrorist outfit, imposing sanctions a week after the blast at Delhi High Court.

More than the formal designations and the sanctions imposed by secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the American move was significant for its rare acknowledgement that this “India-based terrorist group (operates) with significant links to Pakistan”.

A state department announcement in Washington said the Indian Mujahideen “maintains close ties to… Pakistan-based Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) and Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI).”

All these three outfits are already under American sanctions.

In a telephone conversation with The Telegraph from Hanoi, Indian external affairs minister S.M. Krishna welcomed the US action.

“It is necessary that all like-minded countries which want to wage a war on terrorism must strategise in order to succeed in our efforts to eliminate the scourge of global terrorism.”

Implicit in Krishna’s response to Clinton’s action is New Delhi’s expectation that the reach of US law, influence and power will now dissuade countries that tolerate a free market in terrorism facilitation and individuals from dealing with the Indian Mujahideen or giving it any shelter or assistance.

Krishna’s comments were also an acknowledgement of the political significance of the Obama administration’s decision today: a public declaration that the US stands with India in the fight against terrorism in the aftermath of the Delhi bomb blast.

Daniel Benjamin, the state department’s co-ordinator for counter-terrorism, said as much. “The Indian populace has borne the brunt of the Indian Mujahideen’s wanton violence and today’s actions illustrate our solidarity with the Indian government. These designations highlight the threat posed by the Indian Mujahideen not only to western interests, but to India, a close US partner,” he said.

The state department announcement painted a far more grim picture of the domestic terror threat to India than what New Delhi is often willing to share with its people. “The Indian Mujahideen’s stated goal is to carry out terrorist actions against non-Muslims in furtherance of its ultimate objective — an Islamic Caliphate across South Asia.”

That assessment, combined with the realisation here that several Pakistan-based outfits are now engaged in a concerted campaign of terror against India, is an indication that the US is moving towards greater acknowledgement of the true nature of cross-border threats in South Asia.

This realisation appears to have been prompted not only by several acts of terrorist violence against India, but also by a daring 20-hour assault this week on the US embassy and the Nato headquarters right in the centre of Kabul.

Ryan Crocker, the American ambassador in Kabul, publicly blamed the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network for the attack. Like several anti-India outfits in Pakistan such as Lashkar and Jaish, the Haqqani Network too is under Washington’s sanctions.

For public consumption, the Obama administration is downplaying the seriousness of this week’s attack in Kabul but it is clear that behind this brave front, the US is putting together a picture of Pakistan as the fountainhead of terrorism in all of South Asia.

India has been insisting in closed-door talks with the Americans that the region’s terrorist threats originate in Pakistan, a realisation that the Obama administration is gradually willing to acknowledge in its public statements, albeit in small measures.

Today’s statement designating the Indian Mujahideen is a case in point. Krishna appeared to be hinting at this when he told this newspaper “the Indian Mujahideen is responsible for many terrorist acts in India” and went on to add that today’s US designations were a “welcome development”. He significantly alluded to Washington’s stake in every terrorist act in South Asia, pointing out that “terrorism is becoming a scourge not only in India, but all over the world”.

The state department said: “The consequences of these designations include a prohibition against knowingly providing material support or resources to, or engaging in other transactions with, the Indian Mujahideen, and the freezing of all property and interests in property of the organisation that are in the United States, or come within the United States, or the control of US persons.”

In an indication that follow-up steps to today’s decision are in the offing, the announcement added “the department of state took these actions in consultation with the department of justice and the department of treasury”.