New Delhi: Day after Pakistan authorities announced that Hafiz Saeed has been booked in several cases of terror funding, India on Thursday termed the move as ‘a case of double standards’. Saeed is the leader of the terror group accused of orchestrating the 2008 deadly Mumbai attacks.
“This basically is a case of double standards. This is something where they stand completely exposed as far as their claims of taking action against terror groups in Pakistan are concerned,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a press briefing.
He said Pakistan’s ‘sincerity’ to take action against terrorists & terror groups will be judged on the basis of their ability to demonstrate.
Taking a grim view of Pakistan’s announcement of crackdown against Saeed, India on Thursday said that it had seen this ‘action’ before.
“It is important that the action is irreversible and verifiable,” government sources were quoted as saying by ANI.
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s counter-terrorism department said it had launched 23 cases against Saeed and 12 aides for using five trusts to collect funds and donations for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), blamed by India and the United States for the attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
A day later, the police said Hafiz Saeed and 12 of his close aides will be arrested “very soon”.
Two banned LeT-linked charities, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), were also targeted, the department said in a statement.
“All the assets of these organisations and individuals will be frozen and taken over by the state,” said a counter-terrorism senior official on condition of anonymity.
The counter-terrorism department said the action was in accordance with UN sanctions against the individuals and entities.
Pakistan’s move follows pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which last year placed Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over money laundering and terrorism financing.
The international watchdog gave Pakistan an October deadline last month to improve its efforts against terrorism financing. The FATF has said Pakistan could end up on the black list when it reviews progress in a meeting later this year.
Pakistan has long denied accusations from Washington, New Delhi and others that it nurtures and supports Islamist militants in line with foreign policy goals in neighbouring Afghanistan and the disputed Kashmir region.
