US tells Lashkar founder's brother to leave

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The brother of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed is among 30 Muslim clergymen who head mosques in the US and have been asked to leave for violating visa rules.

Imam Muhammad Masood has been asked to leave his residence on the premises of the Sharon Mosque, headquarters of the Islamic Centre of New England.

No date has been fixed for his departure. It would be 'sometime soon', The Daily Times quoted attorney George Garfinkle as saying in a report from Washington.

Apparently keen to curb their activities and see them go as part of the current policy of the Department of Homeland Security, the US wants to ensure that correct procedures are followed.

"The government is leaning on them, and they're trying to do the right thing legally," Garfinkle told the newspaper Patriot Ledger.

Garfinkle also confirmed that some former Islamic Centre board members had been called before a federal grand jury in Boston, Massachusetts, over the past month in connection with the investigation of Imam Masood's alleged visa violations. He did not identify who was called.

Masood is expected to have a visa hearing within the next few months. He could be deported at that time, the newspaper said.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement picked up Masood, his son Hassan and a Chelmsford imam on November 15 as part of a multi-state sweep of 33, mostly Pakistani, immigrants.

Most of those in other states were charged with having fraudulent religious-worker visas.

Masood has led the Sharon mosque since 1998. He and his family have continued to live on the mosque property since his release on bail, but he hasn't led prayer services or performed other duties since then.

His brother Sayeed dissociated himself from LeT after it was banned in Pakistan. He went on to found Markaz Dawaatul Irshad and Jammatud Daawa that he insists are not militant but charity groups.