A right step, Advani

NEW DELHI, NOV. 3. India today welcomed the ban on the Lashkar-e- Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad describing it as yet another display of determination by the U.S. in fighting global terrorism.

While the Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, said the ban was ``a step in the right direction'' and the action conveyed a meaning to India, the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, congratulated the U.S. for showing a determination to tackle the global terrorism.

``It's not so much the ban but the determination of the U.S. that is heartening. We have been advocating that the fight against terrorism cannot be localised as regional or local,'' Mr. Singh said.

Pak. in a bind

B. Muralidhar Reddy reports from Islamabad:

The Pakistan Government appears to have been caught in a bind over the latest decision of the Bush Administration to designate the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad as ``foreign terrorist organisations''.

There was no immediate response either from the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman or the two organisations concerned. The refrain was they would not like to comment without looking at the text of the order from Washington.

When the U.S. decided to freeze the accounts of the Harkat-ul- Mujahideen a few days ago, the response of the Musharraf Government was that the organisation did not exist in Pakistan. It would not be easy for the military government to take the same position with regard to the Lashkar and the Jaish as leaders of both the outfits are not only based in Pakistan but are prominent figures.

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