JURIST - Paper Chase: India urges UN to ban alleged terrorist front group suspected in Mumbai attacks

[JURIST] The Indian government on Tuesday urged [transcript text] the UN Security Council [official website] to ban a Pakistani charity seen as a front for the group being blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks [BBC backgrounder]. Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed [official profile] asked the UN to proscribe Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which it believes is a front for the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) [ADL backgrounder]. Ahamed told the members of the Security Council:

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa and other such organizations need to be proscribed internationally and effective sanctions imposed against them. Their country of origin needs to take urgent steps to stop their functioning. A message must also go out that perpetrators of terrorist acts must be brought to book and not given sanctuaries in some states.

A Pakistani diplomat said [NYT report] that Pakistan would not oppose sanctions against the organization, as a gesture of good will. In a related development, Pakistani officials on Wednesday confirmed the arrest [AP report] of Zarrar Shah, an alleged conspirator of the attacks.

The attacks in Mumbai, which claimed at least 170 lives, were carried out at ten locations across the city, including the landmark Taj Mahal Palace hotel [hotel website]. In the wake of the attacks, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [official website] pushed for tougher anti-terrorism measures [JURIST report]. On Sunday night, Pakistani police raided a militant camp and arrested [JURIST report] Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi [START profile], head of LeT, along with several other individuals believed to be responsible for the attacks. Pakistani officials said Tuesday that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi [official profile] will not hand over to India [JURIST report] any Pakistani citizens arrested in connection with the attacks, insisting instead on a joint investigation with Indian officials.