ISLAMABAD – The United States has turned out to be a supporter of amilitant group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, as it is believed to have blocked aPakistan’s request seeking UN sanctions on JuA leader Abdul Wali, commonlyknown as Umer Khalid Khurasani.

Although Islamabad has not yet received any information formally about thedevelopment regarding his request with the UN Security Council’s sanctionscommittee for listing Khurasani, the Foreign Office has informally learntthat the process has been halted due to an objection by the US, Dawn Newsreported.

Washington raised concerns over mentioning the location of JuA leader asAfghanistan in Islamabad’s request made by around nine months ago. OnPakistan’s request, the terrorist group had been earlier listed by the UNSCin July 2017 mentioning its based as Lalpura, in Nangarhar province ofAfghanistan.

JuA was listed for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating,preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with,under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, otherwise supportingacts or activities of and either owned or controlled, directly orindirectly by, or otherwise supporting Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan andIslamic State in Iraq and the Levant”.

The militant outfit is one of the splinter groups of the banned TTP andit first came to prominence when it claimed responsibility for Wagahsuicide attack in Lahore. It has claimed responsibility for multipleattacks in Pakistan, including the 2014 attacks in Mohmand Agency, 2015Lahore Church attack, blast in a Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal park and others.

The US action to block Pakistan’s requestion comes after the bilateralrelations deteriorated following President Donald Trump’s South Asia andAfghanistan policy last year.