New Delhi:
Pakistan has formally banned Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its subsidiary Filah E Insaniat Foundation by the Interior Ministry under Anti Terrorism Act 1997. The move came after reports suggested that the organisations were not banned by Pakistan despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch.
According to the website of the Pakistan government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), the list has been updated on Tuesday. Earlier they were under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.
On February 21, the Pakistan government had announced that it had banned the JuD and FIF, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans.
"This implies that Pakistan has lied on the ban on Jud and FIF. In fact, it has just altered the date of the watch list placement to fool the world," a senior security official said.
The Pakistan government on Monday also put out another order saying it has frozen assets of all UN designated organisations like JuD, FIF.
However, this is nothing but continuation of a decade-old fraud since both the organisations were put in the Schedule-II of the Pakistan's Anti Terrorism Act, 1997, another official said.
