On the eve of New Year, the United States has delivered a bad news to Pakistan. It has slapped sanctions against seven Pakistani entities allegedly associated with the country’s missile programme. This move comes two days after Washington tightened grip on Lashkar-e-Taiba by adding yet another of its aliases to its terrorists list and placing two senior LeT leaders — Muhammad Sarwar and Shahid Mahmood on the list of declared terrorists.:
The notification by the US Department of Commerce said that the entities added to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) list “have been determined by the US government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States”.
All seven have been placed on the entity list under the destination of Pakistan. They are identified as:
(1) Ahad International Suite 5-6, 2nd Floor, Empress Tower, Empress Road, Lahore, and 2nd Floor, Nomro Centre, Badami Bagh, Lahore.
(2) Air Weapons Complex (AWC) AWC: E-5, Officers Colony, Wah Cantonment.
(3) Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 726, G-11/2, Ibne-Sina Road, Islamabad.
(4) Maritime Technology Complex (MTC) Plot 94, Karachi, and MTC System Division, PN Dockyard, Karachi.
(5) National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) NESCOM Headquarter, Plot 94, Sector H-11/4, Islamabad.
(6) New Auto Engineering (NAE) NAE: 72, Industrial Area, Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi.
(7) Universal Tooling Services, a.k.a., the following three aliases: Forward Design and Manufacturing, MSM Enterprises and Technopak Engineering Deen Plaza, 68/62, Adamjee Road, Saddar P.O. Box 1640, GPO Rawalpindi; G-7, Nimra Centre 7, Badami Bagh, Lahore; 31/B Faisal Town, Lahore, Punjab; and Model Town, HMC Road, Taxila.
Pakistan has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with its nuclear or missile programme, and Dawn was unable to verify if the names and addresses given were correct or in any way linked to the country’s missile programme.
According to the notification, the US government determined that there was reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable facts, that these “government, parastatal, and private entities in Pakistan are determined to be involved in activities that are contrary to the national security and/or foreign policy of the United States”.
The conduct of these seven entities “raises sufficient concern that prior review of exports, re-exports or transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR involving these persons, and the possible imposition of licence conditions or licence denials on shipments to the persons, will enhance (the department’s) ability to prevent violations of the EAR”.
The placement on the list imposes a licence requirement for all items subject to the EAR and a licence review policy of presumption of denial.
The licence requirements apply to any transaction in which items are to be exported, re-exported, or transferred (in-country) to any of the entities or in which such entities act as purchaser, intermediate consignee, ultimate consignee, or end-user.
In addition, no licence exceptions are available for exports, re-exports, or transfers (in-country) to the persons being added to the entity list in this rule. The restrictions will also apply to acronym used by these entities to help exporters, re-exporters and transferors.
The notification does not specify the violations these entities are supposed to have committed and does not give details of the items they are supposed to have exported, imported or re-exported.
As pointed out at the outset, only on Wednesday, the US Department of Treasury tightened the grip on LeT as the Lahore based terrorist group has come up a new brand name to hoodwink the sleuths.It added two senior, Muhammad Sarwar and Shahid Mahmood to the terrorists list and declared Al-Muhammadia Students (AMS) of LeT as a terror outfit.
It was in Dec 2001 that the US State Department had designated LeT as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. “Since the original designation occurred, LeT has repeatedly changed its name and created front organisations … to avoid sanctions. “To that effect, Al-Muhammadia Students (AMS) is the student wing of LeT. Founded in 2009, AMS is a subsidiary of LeT and has worked with senior LeT leaders to organise recruiting courses and other activities for youth,” said the latest notification.
The notification puts a “prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to, or engaging in transactions with this organisation.” It also blocks all property and interests the group or the individuals might have within the US jurisdiction.
In the other designation, the US Treasury Department identifies Muhammad Sarwar as a senior LeT official in Lahore for over 10 years who has held various leadership roles in the group, including his current position as LeT’s emir for Lahore.
Sarwar maintains relationships with LeT’s most senior leaders. Between 2012 and 2013, Sarwar worked with LeT’s foreign affairs chief Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, and in early 2013, Makki asked Sarwar for money to pay for his travel within Pakistan.
The US notification pointed out that Sarwar has been directly involved in LeT fundraising activities and uses the formal financial system in Pakistan to raise and move funds on behalf of LeT. In 2008, Sarwar led delegations of businessmen to LeT facilities for the purpose of soliciting donations, and as of mid-2009, Sarwar was one of two officials who headed LeT’s finance wing in Lahore.
The notification identifies Shahid Mahmood as a longstanding senior LeT member based in Karachi. He has been affiliated with the group since 2007 and between June 2015 and June 2016, Mahmood served as the vice chairman of Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a humanitarian and fundraising arm of LeT. FIF has been designated as an alias for LeT by the State Department as well as by the UN committee for counter-terrorism. In 2014, Mahmood was the leader of FIF in Karachi.
The Treasury claimed that since 2012, Mahmood has routinely travelled overseas and worked with international organisations on behalf of LeT to conduct business for the group in FIF’s name. In 2012, Mahmood travelled to Bangladesh to distribute funds to a Burmese migrant camp for the purpose of facilitating LeT recruitment. In August 2012, Mahmood, while in charge of the Sindh chapter of FIF, led a LeT delegation to Myanmar, and in mid-2014, he travelled to Syria and Turkey and was subsequently appointed to lead FIF efforts in both countries. Mahmood has also travelled to Gaza.
Mahmood was previously part of LeT’s overseas operations team led by Sajid Mir. In August 2012, the State Department put Mir on its terrorists list. While part of LeT’s operations team, Mahmood’s areas of responsibility included Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
In August 2013, Mahmood was instructed to forge covert links with Islamic organisations in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and as of late 2011, Mahmood claimed that LeT’s primary concern should be attacking India and America.