India Post News Service
NEW DELHI: India Thursday sought “effective action” against proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed who was arrested in Pakistan Wednesday.
“This is not the first time that Hafiz Saeed has been arrested or detained,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his weekly media briefing here.
“This drama has taken place at least eight times since 2001,” Kumar said.
“The question is whether this time it would be more than a cosmetic exercise and whether Saeed will be tried and sentenced for his terrorist activities.”
Saeed, chief of the banned LeT and its humanitarian front JuD was arrested Wednesday by the Punjab province’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) while he was traveling between Gujranwala and Lahore, the Express Tribune reported citing official sources.
The move came after the CTD, in a major crackdown against terror financing, registered 23 cases against Saeed and 12 aides for using five trusts to “funnel funds to terror suspects”.
Pakistan has been under immense pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which last year placed the country on its “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over money laundering and terrorism financing. The watchdog has given Pakistan an October deadline to improve its efforts against terror financing.
The arrest It also comes ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the US later this month he will meet President Donald Trump.
In Thursday’s briefing Kumar reiterated India’s position Saeed is a designated terrorist, the mastermind of Mumbai terror attacks and listed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267.
“Effective action mandated internationally against Hafiz Saeed and his terrorist organisations is an obligation on part of all UN Member states, including Pakistan,” he said.
“He also carries a reward of $10 million under US law.”
The spokesperson said that Saeed and his front organizations LeT and JuD, recruit and train hundreds and thousands of persons and motivate and indoctrinate them on a violent agenda against India.
He said the FATF has “drawn attention to the clear evidence that organisations supported by Saeed continue to be involved in supporting and financing terrorist activities”.
“Pakistan’s sincerity to take action against terrorist and terror groups will be judged on the basis of their ability to demonstrate verifiable, credible and irreversible actions against terrorists and to disrupt and dismantle terror groups operating from their soil,” Kumar said.
“We hope that this time Hafiz Saeed will genuinely be brought to justice.” PTI
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