Pakistan bans 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamat-ut-Dawa
The Pakistan government on Thursday banned Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ut-Dawa (JuD). The decision was taken in the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan to review the National Action Plan in detail.
“It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organizations. It was further decided that Jamat-ut-Dawa and Falah-e- Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior,” a statement by Government of Pakistan said.
The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.
Hafiz Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. He formed Jamat-ut-Dawa after Lashkar-e-Taiba was banned by the Pakistan government.
Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.
Pakistan’s decision to ban JuD has come a day before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting where the measures taken by Islamabad to curb money laundering and terror financing were to be reviewed.
Pakistan was put on the FATF grey list in June 2018 and was put on notice to be blacklisted by October 2019 if it didn’t curb money laundering and terror financing.
On February 14 over 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. The terror group is reportedly based in Pakistan.
