LONDON, November 21: Britain has announced legislation to toughen its anti-terrorists laws in a new move to curb the activities of international terrorist organisations based in the country.

The promise of a tough new legislation was made by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw yesterday, in the wake of this week's massacre of 68 tourist in Luxor.

The new legislation contemplated to be moved soon would help in prosecuting foreigners and its own nationals plotting terrorists acts and campaign to destabilise foreign governments.

The law would also empower police and intelligence agencies to scrutinise fund raising by questionable organisations.

According to British media reports here, a number of pro-Pakistan Kashmiri, Sikh, Tamil Tigers and groups supporting Middle East Islamic extremists, active in Egypt and Algeria, operate openly in London, alongside other militant organisations ``conducting wars and enmities by proxy from Britain''.

Straw said that government was also considering making it illegal to raise funds in Britain for terrorists organisations abroad and some Labour ministers are also suggesting taking a leaf out of American example to draft a list of suspect terrorists organisations to keep them under watch and proscribe them if found guilty. Though, the Home Secretary has ordered the review of all anti-terrorism laws, reports here said any new legislation would not be possible until next autumn and will not be enacted till 1999.

``This will come as a relief to the dissidents who gather outside London's Regent Park mosque to distribute leaflets, pamphlets and newsletters whose contents are often blood-curling incitement to violence and insurrection,'' The Guardian said.

The paper said Britain had now become ``an international centre for Islamic militancy on a huge scale. More Arab and Urdu papers are published in London than anywhere in the world and the capital is home to a bewildering variety of radical Islamic fundamentalists and radicals, all of whom make no secret of their commitment to violence and terrorism to achieve their goals''.

Other reports said radical Islamic groups were using London to support their movements in their homelands either through political encouragement or by raising funds. Security chief of France said some terror operations are actually controlled from London.

Sri Lanka, Egypt, France, Algeria, India and Bahrain Governments have repeatedly drawn attention of the British authorities to the presence of known terrorists on its soil and the immense and open fund raising done by Kashmiri, Islamic and Tamil groups here. According to the Sri Lankan High Commission spokesman here his government had sent a written request to the British Government to curb the fund raising by Tamil Tigers.

``We have told the British that LTTE has been labelled a terrorist organisation by United States, Canada, India and even by Australia. Yet they have their international headquarters here and raise huge funds to the tune of between œ Sterling 200,000 to 350,000 per year here to fund their war in Sri Lanka.''

Tehreek-I-Kashmir, a radical Jamaat-i-Islami group in Pakistan has been openly raising funds for their ``struggle in Kashmir''. The group is not even listed as a charity and has been raising funds illegally, and getting their photographs published in a leading Pakistani Urdu daily here.

Harkat-ul-Ansar, a Pakistan-based mercenary terrorist group responsible for abducting five foreign hostages in Kashmir, now labelled as terrorist organisation by the US also openly operates here. Lord Lloyd of Berwick, heading a team that undertook a major review of Britain anti-terrorist laws said, ``A major gap in British legislation is that it is not an offense to conspire to commit acts of terrorism abroad''.

``On this basis one democracy's terrorist is another country's freedom fighter. Consideration must be given to rectifying this glaring anomaly as no terrorist can be anybody's friend specially of a democratic society'', he commented.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.