Face of Nation : The counter-terrorism department of Punjab province in Pakistan has arrested mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attack Hafiz Saeed. For a long time, Hafiz Saeed was roaming feely with impunity in Pakistan after court freed him for lack of evidence. Saeed is in UN list of global terrorists.
Now, he has been arrested in a terror-financing case. The Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JuD) chief was going from Gujranwala from Lahore, when he was nabbed by the authorities. He has been sent to jail on judicial remand. The arrest comes days before Imran Khan’s visit to US. Khan is expected to meet US President Trump on 22nd July. Earlier this month provincial Punjab govt had slapped terror financing charges against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his trusts run by him.
The four main members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) who have been mentioned in the cases were– Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Abdul Rehman Makki (brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed), Ameer Hamza & Mohammad Yahya Aziz.
The main charities listed are–Dawat Irshad Trust, Moaz Bin Jabal Trust, Al-Anfaal Trust, Al-Madina Foundation Trust & Al-Hamd Trust who have been operating from major Pakistani cities like Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan.
But India has rejected actions by Islamabad with one Indian govt source saying, “We have seen this ‘action’ before. Important that it is irreversible and verifiable.” Pakistan is reeling currently under FATF grey list and they run the risk of being relegated to the blacklist which will completely squeeze its funds coming from outside the country if it fails to act against terror funding. Hence this decision is likely to have been taken keeping all such issues into consideration. The next plenary of FATF will be held in October.
