Thursday, December 29, 2016
John Kerry and Israel: Too Little and Too Late
By RASHID KHALIDI
In a speech this week laying out the Obama administration’s parameters for a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, Secretary of State John Kerry stated what has been obvious to most observers for many years: that Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land has all but destroyed the two-state solution. Unfortunately, Mr. Kerry’s speech offers far too little, and comes much too late.
In 2013, shortly after he became secretary of state, Mr. Kerry warned that there was only a two-year window left for creating a Palestinian state. Now, almost four years later and in the last days of his tenure, he has finally laid out parameters for a two-state solution. But with President-elect Donald J. Trump suggesting he will align the United States with Israel’s extreme pro-settler government, the Obama/Kerry parameters will most likely be consigned to oblivion like those promulgated by Bill Clinton 16 years ago.
During Mr. Obama’s eight years in office, the illegal Israeli settler population has swelled by 100,000, to well over 600,000. Simultaneously, for eight years Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has directed a barrage of calculated slights, insults and acts of disrespect at the president of the United States. The Obama administration has finally reacted with Mr. Kerry’s speech and by allowing Resolution 2334, which condemns Israeli settlement expansion, to pass in the United Nations Security Council.By doing so, the United States simply acted in accordance with international law and the global consensus of nearly 50 years. Meanwhile, a third generation of Palestinian children is growing up under a brutal occupation and Gaza has been under siege for a decade. Palestinians are obliged to seek the permission of the Israeli military for the most basic of needs, such as medical treatment, or to travel abroad or even just to Jerusalem. As Mr. Kerry asked in his speech: “Would an Israeli accept living that way? Would an American accept living that way?” It is no wonder that the hopelessness caused by Israeli settlement expansion and land theft in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and the closing of all avenues for realization of the aspirations of Palestinian youth have produced grave social ills, as well as outbreaks of violence.
The Kerry parameters and Resolution 2334 are not going to change much in this dismal picture nor will they save Mr. Obama’s tepid legacy where Palestine is concerned. The resolution has no built-in enforcement mechanism, and it is not necessarily binding. However, it calls upon states to “distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.” This provides the international legal justification for sanctions by states, boycotts of goods produced in settlements, and divestment by unions, foundations and universities of assets in companies that support the colonization of Palestinian land.
Wide support for such actions already exists, even in the United States. A recent poll conducted by the Brookings Institution found that 46 percent of Americans believed that their government should impose sanctions against Israel over the construction of new settlements; the figure rises to 60 percent among Democrats.
Maybe, just maybe, had there been several more, equally firmly worded Security Council resolutions over the past eight years, that might have tempered the sense of impunity that the Israeli government and the settler movement have enjoyed for so long. Perhaps in that case Israelis would have discovered that they could not continue with endless settlement expansion and obtain American largess at the same time. Perhaps being confronted by enough 14-0-1 votes, representing the view of virtually every country on the planet, would have caused the Netanyahu government to pause in its frenzied colonization campaign. Or perhaps not. Since Friday’s vote, Mr. Netanyahu has recalled Israeli ambassadors to two of the countries that sponsored the resolution and temporarily limited working ties with 12 of the Security Council members that voted for it. He has accused the Obama administration of a “shameful ambush,” as if the resolution were a dirty trick instead of a statement in line with longstanding American policy and international law. And his government has vowed to press forward with plans to build even more settlements.
What is clear is that the Netanyahu government will never willingly endorse a peaceful and fair resolution of this conflict. If the Trump administration chooses to join Mr. Netanyahu on such a course, that makes the need for pressure in forums such as the United Nations, as well as through boycotts, divestment and sanctions, all the more necessary. European countries, Russia, China, India, and civil society in the United States and elsewhere must act decisively to underscore the global isolation of the proponents of unending occupation and colonization in Palestine. As too little and too late as Resolution 2334 and the Kerry speech were, they do offer an opening for an overdue global response to the arrogance of the Israeli and American enablers of the denial of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking
By DAVID E. SANGER
President Obama struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services.
The administration also penalized four top officers of one of those services, the powerful military intelligence unit known as the G.R.U. Intelligence agencies have concluded that the G.R.U. ordered the attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations, with the approval of the Kremlin, and ultimately enabled the publication of the emails it harvested. The expulsion of the 35 Russians, whom the administration said were spies posing as diplomats and other officials, and their families was in response to the harassment of American diplomats in Russia, State Department officials said. It was unclear if they were involved in the hacking.
In addition, the State Department announced the closing of two waterfront estates — one in Glen Cove, N.Y., and another on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — that it said were used for Russian intelligence activities, although officials declined to say whether they were specifically used in the election-related hacks.
Taken together, the sweeping actions announced by the White House, the Treasury, the State Department and intelligence agencies on Thursday amount to the strongest American response yet to a state-sponsored cyberattack. They also appeared intended to box in President-elect Donald J. Trump, who will now have to decide whether to lift the sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies when he takes office next month. Mr. Trump responded to the Russian sanctions late Thursday by reiterating a call to “move on.” But he pledged to meet with intelligence officials, who have concluded that the Russian hacking was an attempt to tip the election to Mr. Trump.
In an earlier statement from Hawaii, Mr. Obama took a subtle dig at Mr. Trump, who has consistently cast doubt on the intelligence showing that the Russian government was deeply involved in the hacking. “All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,” Mr. Obama said, and added that the United States acted after “repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior.”
He issued a new executive order that allows him, and his successors, to retaliate for efforts to influence elections in the United States or those of “allies and partners,” a clear reference to concern that Russia’s next target may be Germany and France. Already there are reports of influence operations in both. Mr. Trump’s position is at odds with most members of his party, who after classified briefings have called for investigations into the combination of cyberattacks and old-style information warfare used in the 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump has largely stuck to the theory he set forth in a debate with Hillary Clinton in September, when he said the hacks could have been organized by “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”
Russia criticized the sanctions and vowed retaliation.
“Such steps of the U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, deal a blow on the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, told reporters.
Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian Parliament, told Interfax that “this is the agony not even of ‘lame ducks,’ but of ‘political corpses.’”
Despite the international fallout and political repercussions surrounding the announcement, it is not clear how much effect the sanctions will have, except on the ousted diplomats, who have until midday Sunday to leave the country. G.R.U. officials rarely travel to the United States, or keep assets here. The four Russian intelligence officials are Igor Valentinovich Korobov, the chief of the G.R.U., and three deputies: Sergey Aleksandrovich Gizunov, Igor Olegovich Kostyukov and Vladimir Stepanovich Alexseyev.
The administration also put sanctions on three companies and organizations that it said supported the hacking operations: the Special Technology Center, a signals intelligence operation in St. Petersburg, Russia; a firm called Zorsecurity that is also known as Esage Lab; and the Autonomous Noncommercial Organization Professional Association of Designers of Data Processing Systems, whose lengthy name, American officials said, was cover for a group that provided special training for the hacking.
Still, the sanctions go well beyond the modest sanctions imposed against North Korea for its attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment two years ago, which Mr. Obama said at the time was an effort to repress free speech — a somewhat crude comedy, called “The Interview,” imagining a C.I.A. plot to assassinate Kim Jung-un, the country’s leader.
The sanctions are not as biting as previous ones in which the United States and its Western allies took aim at broad sectors of the Russian economy and blacklisted dozens of people, some of them close friends of Mr. Putin’s. Those sanctions were in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and its activities to destabilize Ukraine. Mr. Trump suggested in an interview with The New York Times this year that he believed those sanctions were useless, and left open the possibility he might lift them. The F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday also released samples of malware and other indicators of Russian cyberactivity, including network addresses of computers commonly used by the Russians to start attacks. But the evidence in a report, in which the administration referred to the Russian cyberactivity as Grizzly Steppe, fell short of anything that would directly tie senior officers of the G.R.U. or the F.S.B., the other intelligence service, to a plan to influence the election.
A more detailed report on the intelligence, ordered by Mr. Obama, will be published in the next three weeks, though much of the information — especially evidence collected from “implants” in Russian computer systems, tapped conversations and spies — is expected to remain classified Several Obama administration officials, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., have suggested that there may also be a covert response, one that would be obvious to Mr. Putin but not to the public. While that may prove satisfying, many outside experts have said that unless the public response is strong enough to impose a real cost on Mr. Putin, his government and his vast intelligence apparatus, it might not deter further activity. “They are concerned about controlling retaliation,” said James A. Lewis, a cyberexpert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
But John P. Carlin, who recently left the administration as the chief of the Justice Department’s national security division, where he assembled cases against North Korean, Chinese and Iranian hackers, called the administration’s actions a “significant step that is consistent with a new model: When you violate norms of behavior in this space, we can figure out who did it and we can impose consequences.”
The Obama administration was riven for months by an internal debate about how much of its evidence to make public. In interviews for a New York Times investigation into the hack, several of Mr. Obama’s top aides expressed regret that they had not made evidence public earlier, or reacted more strongly. None said they believed it would have affected the outcome of the election, however. In recent weeks, Mr. Obama decided that the authorities he created in April 2015 to retaliate against states or individuals that conduct hacking after the Sony attack did not go far enough. They made no provision issuing sanctions in response to an incursion on the electoral system — an attack few saw coming. So he ordered his lawyers to amend the executive order, specifically giving himself and his successor the authority to issue travel bans and asset freezes on those who “tamper with, alter, or cause a misappropriation of information, with a purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.”
The administration has not publicly criticized how its own officials handled the case. But the Times investigation revealed that the F.B.I. first informed the Democratic National Committee that it saw evidence that the committee’s email systems had been hacked in the fall of 2015. Months of fumbling and slow responses followed.
Mr. Obama said at a news conference that he was first notified early this summer. But one of his top aides met Russian officials in Geneva to complain about activity in April.
By the time the leadership of the committee woke up to what was happening, the G.R.U. had not only obtained emails through a hacking group that has been closely associated with it for years, but, investigators say, also allowed them to be published on a number of websites, including a newly created one called DC Leaks and the far more established WikiLeaks. Meanwhile, several states reported the “scanning” of their voter databases — which American intelligence agencies also attributed to Russian hackers. But there is no evidence, American officials said, that Russia sought to manipulate votes or voter rolls on Nov. 8.
Mr. Obama decided not to issue sanctions earlier for fear of Russian retaliation ahead of Election Day. Some of his aides now believe that was a mistake. But the president made clear before leaving for Hawaii that he planned to respond.
EXCLUSIVE: Horrific Details Emerge of the Aleppo Rebel's Trade in Human Organs
After the liberation of Syria's second-largest city of Aleppo from jihadists, horrific details of their rule continue coming to light: local residents have revealed to Sputnik Arabic the mechanisms of a well-established network of organ traders and their price list.
Amid so much western fuss concerning the so-called "Russian atrocities" during the liberation of Aleppo, local residents of the liberated city sat down with Sputnik Arabic to reveal for the first time the horrific details of the jihadists' rule.
They spoke of a massive illegal human organ trade across the border with Turkey, set up by the militants. Civilians learned to fear the local emergency vehicles as they sped around the city hunting for potential donors. One of the "patients" happened to be 60-year-old Abu Mohammad. "We were shelled from a grenade launcher and immediately afterwards rebels came in an emergency vehicle. They ended up stealing one of my kidneys and part of my spleen," he told Sputnik. He further described the mechanism of the traders' operations: a team of rebels wait for an explosion and immediately afterwards pounce on the wounded and dead. Some of those wounded could have been later returned home, he said. Alia has been residing in the Bustan al-Qasr district of Aleppo which was under control of Al-Nusra Front. Once she was offered to undergo treatment in a Turkish clinic as none of eastern Aleppo's clinics had enough medication. "There was a huge market on the border with Turkey where virtually anything was on sale, including women and children. A dead body was selling for 25,000 Turkish lira (TRL), the equivalent of $50, a body of an injured person was selling for 150,000 TRL ($290)," she told Sputnik.
"Every day those wounded at war are sent to hospitals and are regarded as potential donors," she said.
According to statistics, there have been 18,000 documented cases of illegal removal of human organs in the north of Syria. However the majority of these secretive crimes will remain that way, as people are afraid to openly speak about them. A group of forensic experts from Aleppo told Sputnik that it was pretty easy to obtain a human organ in the city. It is located not far from the Syrian-Turkish border which could be easily crossed from the districts which were under control of the rebels. Many foreigners who were allegedly offering humanitarian aid have flooded the city through that border. In fact, these were predominantly mafia who, together with foreign medics, were hunting for human organs and sending them across the border. Doctor Bagjat Akrush told Sputnik that many Syrian medics have been involved in this criminal industry under the cover of the war. It was most active in the hot spots in the north and east of Syria and in the refugee camps. The governments of many countries have taken part in these crimes either directly or covertly and have done nothing to stop it. The doctor said that the majority of these crimes have been committed in the north of the country and children were among those suffered.
Up to 100,000 children in the refugee camps on the Turkish territory are facing the same very danger, he said. Up to 80 percent of refugees in these camps are women and children who have been on sale for almost three years. And it is no secret that the Turks are also involved in it. The war in Syria made it possible for criminals to get very cheap human organs, Akrush went on. They choose a victim through a medical organization, desirably a healthy one as the organs of a diseased man are not that in-demand. Then the organs are sent across the border. Even though Syrian law prohibits the trade in human organs, such crimes are usually done illegally and covertly, he finally stated.
Read more: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612291049111417-aleppo-human-organs-trade/
Agreement reached on ceasefire in Syria & readiness to start peace talks - Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed agreement has been reached on a ceasefire in Syria and the start of peace talks.
“This agreement we’ve reached is very fragile, as we all understand. They require special attention and patience, professional attitude, and constant contact with our partners,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian foreign and defense ministers.
“The first was signed by the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition to stop hostilities in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. The second one is a set of measures to control the ceasefire. The third document is a declaration of intention for Syrian settlement,” the Russian president said.
The agreement is the result of joint efforts by Russia, Turkey, and Iran, the president said.
“Great work has been done in cooperation with our partners from Turkey. We know that only recently there was a trilateral meeting in Moscow of the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, where all of the nations made obligations not only to control, but also to act as guarantors of the peace process in Syria.”
The truce is supported by seven major armed opposition groups that have over 60,000 fighters in their ranks, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said. The Russian Defense Ministry has released a list of the groups that have pledged to stop fighting, which includes Faylaq Al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Thuwar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Muwahhideen, Jaysh Idlib and Jabhat al-Shamiyah. The minister said under the deal any armed group that refuses to cease hostilities would be considered a legitimate target for the use of force, as is the case with terrorist groups Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front, which are not included in the truce. Shoigu added that if the agreement holds, it would allow Russia to scale down its military presence in Syria. Putin said that such a pull-out would not mean a stop to Russia’s international anti-terrorist effort.
“This agreement we’ve reached is very fragile, as we all understand. They require special attention and patience, professional attitude, and constant contact with our partners,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian foreign and defense ministers.
The agreement, which was previously announced by Turkey, is detailed in three documents, Putin said.
We welcome the understanding reached between the conflicting/warring parties in Syria on a country-wide ceasefire.
mfa.gov.tr/no_-333_-29-de…
The truce is supported by seven major armed opposition groups that have over 60,000 fighters in their ranks, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said. The Russian Defense Ministry has released a list of the groups that have pledged to stop fighting, which includes Faylaq Al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Thuwar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Muwahhideen, Jaysh Idlib and Jabhat al-Shamiyah. The minister said under the deal any armed group that refuses to cease hostilities would be considered a legitimate target for the use of force, as is the case with terrorist groups Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front, which are not included in the truce. Shoigu added that if the agreement holds, it would allow Russia to scale down its military presence in Syria. Putin said that such a pull-out would not mean a stop to Russia’s international anti-terrorist effort.
He added that he will contact his Iranian and Turkish counterparts to discuss further steps in the Syrian peace process.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the three nations are preparing a meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, to pave the way for peace talks on Syria.
Lavrov said that the ceasefire agreement would be submitted to the UN Security Council later on Thursday for potential endorsement.
“We will inform UNSC members of the work we have done and answer their questions,” the Russian foreign minister said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Turkey and Russia will act as guarantors of the truce, which does not include groups designated as terrorists by the United Nations.
Ankara has called on all parties that can exert influence on armed groups to support the ceasefire deal.
Damascus has confirmed that it will observe the truce starting at midnight local time on December 30 (22:00 GMT December 29).
The rebel National Coalition announced its support for the ceasefire deal, AFP reported. Zakaria Malahifji, who represents the Free Syrian Army-affiliated rebel group Fastaqim, has confirmed supporting the truce to Reuters.
Osama Abu Zaid, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army rebel alliance, said at a news conference in Turkey that his group will also abide by the terms.
https://www.rt.com/news/372141-putin-syria-ceasefire-agreed/
Pakistan's Kasur scandal: 16 months on…
Remshay Ahmed
Last year on August 8 Pakistan was shaken by the cries of the young victims of Hussain Khanwala village who were being molested and blackmailed for well over a decade. While reports of such a heinous crime have been recurring for some time in various newspapers the actual number of victims and the degree of the sexual offences were unknown until The Nation's Javed Ashraf broke the complete story and shook the country’s law enforcement agencies from its core.
While our intellects have developed for us to realize that as long as humans exist there are possibilities for err to humanity, we still have to put these intellects to better use. A realization is incomplete until a proper course of action is taken to curb the problem at hand. When the news of Kasur’s victims broke out, and it became a matter of national significance after Punjab’s leading child protection official called for a federal inquiry into the matter, there was an outrage amongst the masses. Our independent media and the activists alike started labeling this as the biggest child molestation scandal in the country’s history popularly known as the Kasur Fallout and the Kasur Tragedy. While it became a matter of national significance, the media frenzy and the activists soon hushed down; what happened to the victims is not heard of anymore. What this utters is a sense that Pakistanis have generally accepted that bad exists in our society and there is little that can be done about it. Perhaps that is why so little was actually done for these victims as well.
However, the Child Protection Bill passed by Senate on March, 2016 has proven to be a significant move by the government in curbing this problem, still the question remains, “What of the Kasur victims?” “What of the children who have been victims of this sexual abuse for years?” “What of the children as young as 6 and 11 years of age who were filmed while being forced to perform such sexual acts?” What became the most surprising element was how something that became a national matter; questioned the legitimacy of our law enforcement agencies and demanded new laws soon died down.
While talking to Mr. Ashraf the few reasons for which Kasur Scandal was so easily forgotten was how the government only accepted the presence of a few videos and there being only ‘a few’ victims. The police made efforts of linking this incident to a land dispute and some of the people at Kasur who initiated the protests against police, exploited this situation to gain financial and political gains such as Mobeen, the Chairman of Union Council Kasur, narrates Mr. Javed Ashraf.
It wasn’t until the media persistently talked and ‘created’ an outrage over Kasur, and the political parties labeled this as a failure of the government that the Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif ordered an independent judicial inquiry and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to take stern action against the perpetrators. Few days later Senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning the abuse and demanding exemplary punishment for the culprits.
However, despite Saba Sadiq’s (head of Punjab’s Child Protection Bureau) description of the incident as the largest child abuse scandal in Pakistan’s history, the initial police probe labeled these allegations as baseless. The District Police Chief Rai Baber Saeed said, “Police have 30 video clips of the scandal involving 15 people. Seven of them have been arrested while four or five are on pre-arrest bail and the rest are absconders.” He described the case as an old one, dragged up recently by a group of villagers as a tactic in a dispute over the sale of some land.
While it was apparent that this was no land dispute, the suspension of DSP and his subordinates from Ganda Singh Police Station were some of the very important steps taken by the government. However, this was still not enough. A local MPA of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had a crucial role in the withdrawal of the allegations against the main suspect in this case. This MPA was none other than Malik Ahmed Saeed, who had been pressurizing the police for the suspect’s release, and also paid Rs.5 million in bribe to police. The police were brutally scrutinized and N League which is alleged of politicizing police met with even greater criticisms. The government and police’s attempts of linking this scandal to a land dispute between Master Zafar and Naeem over 19 acres of land weren’t enough to misguide the populous, media and the activists; inquiries now needed to make arrests. Out of 22 registered cases, 18 accused were nominated out of which 17 have been arrested since.
On 22, July, 2016 Justice Syed Shahbaz Rizvi chaired the hearing of three accused of Kasur scandal, Tanzeel ur Rehman, Atiq ur Rehman and Saleem Sherazi for bail. They claimed being innocent while the Lahore High Court rejected their arguments for plea.
Judicially, Kasur scandal was dealt with adequately, a man hunt for 18 and not (alleged) 25 suspects led to 17 arrests, the suspension of police officers and DSP from Ganda Singh police station all point to the right path taken by the government. However, Kasur incident highlights how there is a lack of laws banning child pornography in Pakistan and up until the Child Protection Bill the punishment for abusing children, forcing them into sexual offences and extortion were not included as a part of the legal system in Pakistan. According to Mr. Ashraf the reason why the police at Ganda Singh police station weren’t lodging any complaints or sealing the FIRs in was not only because of political or governmental pressure but also because of how uninformed they were about there being laws against child sexual abuse and child pornography. This shows how far long we still are from becoming a civilized society where the rights of citizens, especially children had to be enlisted only after such a heinous crime at such a massive scale took place.
Sahil, an organization based in Lahore has been doing considerable work in rehabilitating victims of sexual abuse. Ansar Sajjad Bhatti, regional coordinator at Sahil said, “We have been working on our own with the Kasur victims and no efforts have been made by the Government of Punjab in using agents such as Sahil in rehabilitating these victims. We have on our panel, few psychologists and we carry out regular visits in the Kasur district in rehabilitating these victims. Therapy still remains a foreign concept to many and because of little or no efforts by the government in ensuring a safe and healthy environment for these kids through the provision of education; these kids are still vulnerable as long as they remain on the streets.”
Even though the police and our courts have done their duty, despite their efforts to reduce the scandal to a land dispute, the victims in Kasur have still not received their fair share of justice. It will come when we make attempts to rehabilitate them in our society, educate them and see them as citizens, and not stigmatizing them as ‘victims’ of the country’s largest sexual abuse scandal.
U.S. Designates Student Wing Of Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba Group As 'Terrorist'
The United States on December 28 added the student wing of the Pakistan-based militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba to its list of "foreign terrorist organizations."
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or Army of the Pure, is an anti-Indian militant group with historical ties to Pakistan's top spy agencies. It has been accused of orchestrating numerous attacks, including a 2008 assault in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
The State Department's move against the student group, Al-Muhammadia Students, came as the Treasury Department added two Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders to the U.S. list of "specially designated global terrorists," subjecting them to U.S. sanctions that bars Americans from doing business with them.
LeT was banned by the Pakistani government in 2002 but it has continued operating through front organizations, according to U.S. officials, and their leaders conduct public rallies and interviews.
The State Department announced that it amended the designation of LeT as a "foreign terrorist organization" to include what it called the group's student wing.
The Treasury Department added Muhammad Sarwar, LeT's leader in Lahore, and Shahid Mahmood, an LeT leader in Karachi, to the U.S. list of "specially designated global terrorists."
Balochistan war: Pakistan accused over 1,000 dumped bodies
Nearly 1,000 dead bodies of political activists and suspected armed separatists have been found in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province over the past six years.
Activists say the figures, obtained from the human rights ministry by BBC Urdu, point to large-scale extrajudicial killings.
Relatives say most victims had been picked up by security agencies.
The government blames the dumped bodies on infighting among insurgent groups.
Thousands of people have disappeared without trace in Balochistan since a separatist insurgency gained momentum in 2007.
A military-led operation was launched in early 2005 aimed at wiping out the uprising by ethnic Baloch groups, who are fighting for a greater share of the province's resources.
According to the Federal Ministry of Human Rights, at least 936 dead bodies have been found in Balochistan since 2011.
Most of them were dumped in the regions of Quetta, Qalat, Khuzdar and Makran - areas where the separatist insurgency has its roots.
One of the more prominent cases of "kill-and-dump" is that of Jalil Reki, a political activist who lived in the Saryab neighbourhood of Quetta.
He was arrested at his residence in 2009, and his body was found two years later in the Mand area near the Iranian border, some 1,100km (680 miles) south of Quetta.
"They came to our house in three vehicles. These were the vehicles of agencies. They took away Jalil," his mother told the BBC.
"The police did not take our report. Our male relatives later approached the then chief minister's office, but we could not get any response.
"Two years later some people found his body in Mand. He had one bullet in the head and three in the chest. His arms were fractured and there were cigarette burns on his back."
Relatives of the victims believe the number may be higher.
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) says it has recorded 1,200 cases of dumped bodies and there are many more it has not been able to document.
Nasrullah Baloch, the head of VBMP, told the BBC most of the bodies "are of those activists who have been victims of 'enforced disappearances' - people who are picked up by authorities and then just go missing."
His allegations chime with an independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report in 2013 that noted "credible reports of continued serious human rights violations, including [enforced] disappearances of people, arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings".
'Feuds and crime'
Provincial government spokesman Anwarul Haq Kakar denied that state agencies were involved in such acts.
"There are several explanations. Sometimes insurgents are killed in a gunfight with law enforcement agencies but their bodies are found later," he said.
"Militant groups also fight among each other and don't bury their dead fighters. Then there are tribal feuds, organised crime and drug mafia."
There have been frequent protests by relatives of the victims and Baloch nationalist organisations over the years, while many have fled to foreign countries or safer locations within Pakistan.
Naveed Baloch, who was briefly held by the German police for the 19 December truck killings in Berlin, left Pakistan in February to "escape persecution" in his village in Mand region.
An activist of a nationalist party, he was arrested and tortured by Pakistani forces in Balochistan last year, and more recently his home in the village was raided again, his cousin, Waheed Baloch, told BBC Urdu.
