The following is a statement from over a dozen North American Muslim groups calling on the U.S. government to label Jamaat ul-Fuqra as a Foreign Terrorist Organization:
As Muslims concerned about Islamist terrorism, we urge the U.S. State Department to label the Pakistani militant group, Jamaat ul-Fuqra, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. We are alarmed that this group, operating under various names like Muslims of the Americas (MOA), says it has 22 “Islamic villages” in the U.S. and Canada.
We commend the Clarion Project for its identification of one such “village” in Texas and its acquirement of newly declassified FBI documents that prove that ul-Fuqra meets the State Department’s legal criteria for being labeled as a Foreign Terrorist Organization:
“1. It must be a foreign organization.
2. The organization must engage in terrorist activity… or terrorism…or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.
3. The organization’s terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United States.”
The MOA is led by a radical cleric in Pakistan named Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani and its members have a history of terrorist activity. The FBI files state:
“The MOA is now an autonomous organization which possesses an infrastructure capable of planning and mounting terrorist campaigns overseas and within the U.S.”
“The documented propensity for violence by this organization supports the belief the leadership of the MOA extols membership to pursue a policy of jihad or holy war against individuals or groups it considers enemies of Islam, which includes the U.S. Government.”
If ul-Fuqra were to be labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization, it would bar U.S. citizens from knowingly providing material support to the organization, freeze its funds and prevent members from coming to the U.S.
We consider ul-Fuqra/MOA to be a threat to Muslims and non-Muslims alike that do not share its extremist ideology.
We ask public officials and fellow citizens of the West to demand that the U.S. State Department enforce its own policy and label Jamaat ul-Fuqra as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Signed:
Zainab Al-Suwaij
Executive Director, American-Islamic Congress
Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser
President, American-Islamic Forum for Democracy
C. Holland Taylor
Chairman & CEO, LibForAll Foundation
Sheikh Ahmed Subhy Mansour
President, International Quranic Center
Mumtaz Khan
President, Muslim Canadian Congress
Salma Siddiqui
President, Coalition of Progressive Canadian Muslim Organizations*
*Members of the Coalition
Raheel Raza
President, Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow
Tahir Gora
Director, Canadian Thinkers’ Forum
Saadia Bokhari
Director, Islamic Council for Interfaith Harmony
Haleema Saadia
Director, Muslim Committee Against Anti-Semitism
Asma Mahmood
Director, Progressive Muslims Institute Canada
Sohail Raza
Director, Forum for Learning
Mohsin Abbas
Director, Western Canadian Muslims for Democracy