Even as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was wrapping up a high-level visit to Pakistan, the Department of State has designated Maulana Fazlullah, commander of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Under Fazlullah, who took charge of the terrorist outfit in November 2013, its militants claimed responsibility for the December 16, 2014 attack on a Peshawar school killing at least 148 individuals, mostly students.
Even before he rose in TTP’s ranks he was linked to the killing of Pakistani Army Major General Sanaullah Niazi in September 2013, as was said to have ordered the shooting of schoolgirl and Nobel laureate and activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012.
Additionally Fazullah is held responsible for beheading of 17 Pakistani soldiers after an attack in June 2012 and also ordered the targeted killings of elders who led peace committees against the Taliban, the State Department said in its notification on Tuesday.
When the agency designates an individual in this manner it implies a prohibition against U.S. persons engaging in transactions with that person, and the freezing of all property and interests that they have in the U.S.
TTP was itself designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on September 1, 2010, and the outfit was also listed at the United Nations Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee on July 29, 2011.
