The Government of India on Tuesday welcomed the decision taken by the United States of designating the Milli Muslim League (MML) — the political front of Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud Dawa — a foreign terrorist organisation.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a statement said, ”India welcomes US’ action for designating Milli Muslim League, an alias of LeT, a Pakistan-based terrorist group and its functionaries who are acting on behalf of LeT.”

”The move vindicates India’s position that Pakistan hasn’t taken effective action against terrorist groups,” the MEA statement added.

In a major move ahead of the general elections in Pakistan, the United States on Monday had designated MML a foreign terrorist organisation.

The State and the Treasury Departments announced that the MML, which openly campaigns with posters of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, has been added under LeT’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under two different laws.

The State Department said that another LeT front, Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK), was also added to the list. TAJK is said to be a front of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which according to the Trump administration, continues to operate freely inside Pakistan.

In a simultaneous move, seven members of MML central leadership body have been designated as foreign terrorists. The Treasury Department said that it was also targeting MML president Saifullah Khalid, General Secretary Fayyaz Ahmad and five others.

“LeT continues to operate freely within Pakistan, holding public rallies, raising funds, and plotting and training for terrorist attacks,” the State Department said. “Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group,” the Department’s Counterterrorism Coordinator Nathan A. Sales said in Washington.

The move comes a day after the Election Commission of Pakistan asked the MML to produce a clearance certificate by the interior ministry for its registration as a political party. The election commission had earlier rejected the MML’s application for registration as a political party after the interior ministry objected to its ties to banned militant outfits.

(With agency inputs)