U.S. to release expanded list of terrorist outfits

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 9. The U.S. is expected to release an expanded list of terrorist organisations this week and indications are that the President, Mr. George W. Bush, will add at least one outfit operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr. Bush apparently gave this impression in his call to Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee over the weekend while informing him ahead of the impending moves on Afghanistan. Senior Indian officials visiting Washington have been trying to impress upon the Bush administration that terrorism cannot be seen through the prism of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden alone.

What Indian diplomats and officials have been trying to say to the Bush administration is that terrorist outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir, openly supported by Pakistan, have links to Osama and company. The fact that outfits such as the Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) would take immediate credit for the gruesome car bomb attack in Srinagar was taken note of here.

Washington is quite aware of the antecedents of the JeM. For quite some time now, New Delhi has been impressing the U.S. upon the need to crack down on groups such as the Lashkar-e- Taiba and Al-Badr, both of which are active in Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, over the last four years, there has been keen interest on whether or not Washington will add any of these groups in the ``list'' of Foreign Terrorist Organisations of the State Department.

Last week, the State Department came out with its ``list'' of Foreign Terrorist Organisations. Instead of any additions, two were actually two taken off the list - the Japanese Red Army and the Tupac Amaru of Peru.

There was noticeable disappointment - perhaps even anger - here and elsewhere that Washington had once again failed to take note of terrorist outfits (with state sponsors) operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

The White House list of organisations, entities and individuals is different and meant to complement the list of the State Department. The first list of Mr. Bush named 27 entities and organisations and were all Al-Qaeda specific. Several outfits such as the Hamas and the Hizbollah had been left out. The explanation then was that the focus was on ``global reach''.

While much of the exercise is terrorism specific, there is also a political component - the Bush administration finds itself compelled to address the genuine concerns of countries like India. In fact, terrorism will be high on the agenda when the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, visits Pakistan and India this weekend. Gen. Powell has several objectives in his trip to South Asia.

He is also travelling to the sub-continent calling for restraint and one of the prime objectives is to assure Islamabad that it will not be coming under attack from India when the focus is on Afghanistan.

``The Pakistanis have always worried, when they get diverted or consumed by onething, about the Indians jumping in to take advantage,'' an unnamed senior administration official has been quoted in The Washington Post. According to the report, New Delhi has both publicly and privately assured that Pakistan's situation will not be exploited.

That said there is also visible anger in India about the October 2 car bomb attack in Srinagar. ``The Indians are more than a little ticked off,'' the senior official has said; and one of the ways that the Bush administration is going to address Indian concerns is to add a militant group to the President's list. ``The message to India is not only restraint. It's also: We hear you on terrorism,'' an official has been quoted.

Also, Gen. Powell will seek to reassure that in spite of the recent attention to Pakistan, the U.S. is committed to the long- term improvement of relations with India.

``We need to make it clear to India that they are important in the current coalition and we remain committed to the long-term improvement of relations with India,'' a State Department official has said.

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Section  : International
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