Hafiz Saeed to challenge Pakistan govt's 'illegal' action against his entities

Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has said he will challenge Pakistan government’s “illegal” crackdown against his entities in the court.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan had banned two so called charities of Hafiz Saeed after quietly amending its anti-terror laws to ban terrorist organisations listed by the United Nations.

Reacting to the crack down, Hafiz Saeed said, "After detaining me for 10 months without any legal ground, the government has now issued a notification regarding taking over our schools, dispensaries, ambulances and other assets.

“It will hamper our relief operations in Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Azad Kashmir and northern areas," he added.

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The Pakistan government has started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries that belong to the Hafiz Saeed’s JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

The move comes days before a six-day multi-national Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris where Pakistan is likely to be “grey-listed” for money-laundering and terror-financing, is being seen as an eyewash by experts.

Earlier in November last year, FATF at its plenary in Buenos Aires had asked Pakistan provide a compliance report on actions taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba and JuD at Paris meeting.

FATF maintains a grey and blacklist that identifies countries supporting money laundering and terror financing. Pakistan had been on the grey list of FATF for three years from 2012 to 2015.