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Pakistan plans takeover of charities run by Lashkar-e-Taiba
[IN.REUTERS] Pakistain’s government plans to seize control of charities and financial assets linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... , who Washington has designated a terrorist, according to officials and documents reviewed by Rooters. Pakistain’s civilian government detailed its plans in a secret order to various provincial and federal government departments on Dec. 19, three officials who attended one of several high-level meeting discussing the crackdown told Rooters. Marked "secret", a Dec. 19 document from the finance ministry directed law enforcement and governments in Pakistain’s five provinces to submit an action plan by Dec. 28 for a "takeover" of Saeed’s two charities, Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. The United States has labelled JuD and FIF "terrorist fronts" for Lashkar-e-Taiba  ...the Army of the Pure,an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... ("Army of the Pure" or LeT), a group Saeed founded in 1987 and which Washington and India blame for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks and a Pak court saw insufficient evidence to convict him. The LeT could not be reached for comment. The Dec. 19th document, which refers to "Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issues", names only Saeed’s two charities and "actions to be taken" against them. The FATF, which is an international body that combats money laundering and terrorist financing, has warned Pakistain it faces inclusion on a watch list for failing to crack down on financing terrorism. Asked about a crackdown on JuD and FIF, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who co-chaired one of the meetings on the plan, responded only generally, saying he has ordered authorities "to choke the fundraising of all proscribed outfits in Pakistain". In a written reply to Rooters, he also said Pakistain wasn’t taking action under U.S. pressure. "We’re not pleasing anyone. We’re working as a responsible nation to fulfil our obligations to our people and international community." Posted by: Fred 2018-01-02 |
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