Washington:
In a joint crackdown on the Pakistan based Harakat-ul Jihad Islami or HuJI, as it's more commonly known, the United States and the UN on Saturday declared it to be foreign terrorist organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
They also slapped sanctions on its chief
Illyas Kashmiri, who India wants access to for his role in planning 26/11. (
Read: The importance of being Illyas Kashmiri)
This freezes any assets
Kashmiri has under US jurisdiction and prohibits American citizens from engaging in any transactions with him.
HUJI's area of operation extends throughout South Asia, with its terrorist operations focused primarily in India and Pakistan.
India believes
HUJI and
Kashmiri were also involved in the attack on a mosque in Hyderabad in 2007 that killed 16 people and the March 2007 Varanasi terrorist attacks that killed at least 25 people and left another 100 injured.
The US Treasury Department statement announcing this goes on to say: "
Illyas Kashmiri is at the core of HUJI's efforts to plan and carry out attacks against US forces and our allies. He is responsible for creating a cadre of militants to act on behalf of HUJI and Al-Qaida. In acting together, the US and UN are taking another important step in combating the threat that Al-Qaida and its affiliated organizations pose."