Ummah Tameer-e-Nau or UTN is a militant organization banned by United States Department of the Treasury on December 20, 2001.[1][2] It was also placed on Patriot Act Terrorist Exclusion List[3]. It is suspected of supplying information about constructing Nuclear weapons to Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.[4]
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UTN was founded in June 2000 by Pakistani Nuclear scientist Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood who resigned from Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1999 in protest of the government's willingness to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.[5] He had previously served as Director for Nuclear Power and was the chief designer and director of Pakistan's Khushab Reactor.[6] Mahmood was a supporter of the Taliban and once described the Taliban as the "ideal Islamic state".[1] He was awarded Pakistan's third highest honour Sitara-i-Imtiaz in March 1999 by the President of Pakistan.[5]
The stated purpose of UTN was to rebuild Afghanistan's infrastructure and raise money to develop the Taliban-held areas of Afghanistan. UTN reportedly had the personal support of Mullah Omar and close ties to Taliban regime. The U.S. declared Ummah Tameer-e-Nau a terrorist group after a search of the group's offices in the Afghan capital, Kabul, unearthed documents referencing plans to kidnap a U.S. diplomat and outlining basic physics related to nuclear weapons.[7] Documents also showed that there was a plan to mine Uranium inside Afghanistan.[8]
Consequent to the US actions Pakistan also froze the assets of this organization.[9] Bank of England also ordered a freeze on its assets.[10] It was also sanctioned by the United Nations.[11] Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Dr. Chaudhry Abdul Majeed were arrested in Pakistan in November, 2001.[12] However Pakistan refused to extradite him to the United States.[13] He was subsequently freed in February 2002.[14] Hamid Gul former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence has been placed on a global watchlist of terrorists by the U.S. government.[7]