Pakistan has not banned Hafiz Saeed's JuD, FIF; Feb 21 announcement an eyewash

Pakistan has not banned Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawah and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation despite its announcement a fortnight ago.

Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has not banned Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawah and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation despite its announcement a fortnight ago, PTI reported on Monday. The two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch. Citing the data from the website of the Pakistan government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), which was updated on Monday, the news agency said Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) are organisations under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997. The NCTA website has it that the notification regarding JuD and FIF putting them under the list of organisation under watch was issued on February 21. However, before that the website had said that both JuD and FIF were placed on the watch list in January 2017. "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," PTI quoted a senior security official as saying. On February 21, 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. A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry had said on February 21 that the decision to ban these two groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan. "It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson had said in a statement. "It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.