The State Department has designated the Tariq Gidar Group, or TGG, and Jama’at ul Dawa al-Qu’ran, or JDQ, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. This designation imposes sanctions on foreign entities determined to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of Americans, or the United States.
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Designations of TGG and JDQ Terrorist Organizations
As a result of these designations, all property under U.S. jurisdiction in which the TGG or JDQ have any interest is blocked and American citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the TGG or JDQ.
The TGG is a Pakistani Taliban linked group based in Darra Adam Khel, Pakistan. The TGG is responsible for multiple large-scale, fatal attacks, including the December 2014 massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, that left 132 schoolchildren and nine staffers dead – the deadliest terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history.
TGG’s leader Umar Mansoor is also known as the mastermind of the January 2016 attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, that killed 20 and wounded between 50 and 60 others. In addition to these devastating attacks, the TGG is responsible for the 2010 kidnapping of a British journalist traveling to North Waziristan, Pakistan, and the 2008 kidnapping and beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak in Attock, Pakistan.
JDQ is a terrorist group based in Peshawar, Pakistan, and eastern Afghanistan, which pledged allegiance in 2010 to now-deceased Taliban emir Mullah Omar, and has long-standing ties to al-Qaida and Lashkar e-Tayyiba. JDQ has been responsible for various attacks, including the infamous 2010 kidnapping and death of British aid work Linda Norgrove in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
The imposition of sanctions are a powerful tool against terrorists. With these actions the U.S. is notifying the American public and the international community that TGG and JDQ are actively engaged in terrorism. Terrorism designations enable the government to coordinate actions to disrupt the activities of terrorists, including denying them access to the U.S. financial system and enabling U.S. law enforcement actions.
The United States will continue to expose, isolate, and sanction those who commit acts of terrorism.