ISLAMABAD: The US State Department has named a self-proclaimed Pakistani charity as a “foreign terrorist organization,” a status that freezes any assets it has under US jurisdiction.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa (Organization for Preaching) calls itself a humanitarian charity but is widely seen as a front organization for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistan-based group accused of orchestrating attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.

The designation comes as NATO troops in Afghanistan are drawing down, and regional rivals Pakistan and India compete with each other for influence with Kabul.

Some fear the competition may spill into open conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations, who have fought three wars since independence.

Historically, Pakistan has used militant groups like LET to mount covert attacks on Indian soil, something the current government has vowed will not happen again.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s listing will prohibit US entities or citizens from dealing with the organization, but will probably have little practical effect on its operations or fund raising.

The United Nations said in 2008 that Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for LET and Pakistani authorities vowed to crack down.

But Jamaat-ud-Dawa continues to operate openly in Pakistan. Its leader holds public rallies and gives interviews. The group says it is currently carrying out charitable work in the remote border region of North Waziristan to help residents displaced by military operations.

“In December 2001, the Department of State designated LET as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Since the original designation occurred, LET has repeatedly changed its name in an effort to avoid sanctions,” the State Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

“More specifically, LET created Jama’at-ud-Dawa as a front organization, claiming that the group was an ‘organization for the preaching of Islam, politics, and social work’.”

JUD blasts US, India

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is chief of charity organization, denied having any links to militancy on Thursday and vowed to hold protests.

“Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) has no link whatsoever with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is a resistance wing in Kashmir,” he told a press conference in the eastern city of Lahore.

“It is an independent Pakistani organization taking part in the promotion of education and relief operations. It is only serving the Pakistani people,” added Saeed.

JUD spokesman Yahya Mujahid also rejected the allegations.

“We are a welfare organization working for the people of Pakistan and we have nothing to do with the LET or terrorism,” he said.

“We have already been cleared by the Lahore High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan, therefore the US decision does not matter for us.”

Mujahid was referring to attempts by the Pakistani government to prosecute several Jamaat leaders and ban the organization after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Pakistani courts rejected the moves.

The US State Department announced the amendments to its Foreign Terrorist Organization list on Tuesday, where it also listed three further groups as fronts for LeT and brought sanctions against two more LeT operatives.

The US Treasury said Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry, one of the two hit with sanctions, has been a senior leader and strategist for LeT since the early 2000s, while the second, Muhammad Hussein Gill, is an LeT founder and its chief financial officer.

Saeed, 64, produced both men in front of the media and vowed to protest the decisions against them.

“The designation of two JuD members is condemnable and we will hold protest rallies against the decision on Friday.

“Americans don’t have any independent thought... they are stupid. They have been unleashing a negative propaganda campaign against us at the behest of India,” he added.

A foreign office spokeswoman said the US sanctions would have no bearing any Pakistani response.

“An action by any state individually does not have any bearing or obligations on Pakistan,” she said.