In trouble at FATF, Pakistan books Hafiz Saeed, 3 others

NEW DELHI: Facing heat over its continued support for terrorists, Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province has filed cases against Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD) chief Hafiz Saeed and other members of his organization, according to diplomatic sources.

New Delhi, however, said that Islamabad in the past too has booked Saeed and his outfit but never took any action to stop his activities against India. “It is important if this action by Pak is irreversible and verifiable," a North Block official told ET. The move, diplomatic sources said, could be the outcome of recently concluded FATF’s plenary at Orlando where Pak was given ultimatum to implement all 27 points of its Action Plan by October 2019.

Among the 4 key issues raised during the plenary was no investigations by Islamabad on terror financing against UN designated terrorists like Saeed. Pakistan’s action against Saeed, sources said, could be linked to FATF’s observation, however, it comes days ahead of the crucial financial bailout meeting by IMF.


The three other issues on which Islamabad needs to act, as per FATF, includes freezing of instrumentalities of terrorism like weapons and ammunition, implement legal provisions for targeted financial sanctions against all UN-designated terrorist entities and no exemptions for terrorist leaders for sustenance, diplomatic sources confirmed.

The FIRs filed against the outfits include charges of terror financing and terror-facilitation, sources said.

Besides Saeed, Abdul Rehman Makki (brother-in-law of Saeed), Ameer Hamza and Mohammad Yahya Aziz have been named in the cases.