UNITED NATIONS — A U.N. Security Council panel has declared a Pakistan-based charity a front group for the terrorist organization blamed in the attacks on Mumbai that killed 171 people.
In a move sought by India and the U.S., the panel said the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and subject to U.N. sanctions on terrorist organizations. It also designated four suspected plotters of the Mumbai attack as terrorists subject to sanctions.
They include Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar’s operations chief, whose arrest was announced Wednesday. The others are Muhammad Saeed, the group’s leader; Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance; and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group.
Meanwhile, India’s top law enforcement official has announced a massive overhaul of the country’s security and intelligence agencies in the wake of last month’s Mumbai attacks.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram made the announcement today in a speech to India’s Parliament.
He says the government will beef up coastal security forces,create a national investigative agency, better train local police and strengthen anti-terror laws.
Earlier Wednesday, Pakistan announced the arrest of a second reputed key player, and officials said they are investigating the Islamic charity that the U.S. and India have linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
But Pakistani officials say India has not shared evidence from its investigation of the attack.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistani authorities have detained Zarrar Shah, an alleged leader of Lashkar- e-Taiba.
India news reports citing intelligence officials identified Shah as Lashkar’s communications chief and said he worked out ways for the group’s leaders in Pakistan to stay in touch with the 10 gunmen during the three-day siege in Mumbai.
The New York Times has reported that the attackers and their handlers used Internet phone services to make it harder for investigators to trace their calls.
Gilani also confirmed that Lakhvi, another alleged plotter identified by India, was detained during a raid Sunday in Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir. That predominantly Muslim region in the Himalayas is claimed by both nations and has been the focus of two of their three wars since 1947.
