ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan banned two charities linked to the founder of an Islamist militant group on Wednesday, just days before a global watchdog is due to vote on a U.S.-backed motion to put Islamabad on a watchlist for failing to curb terrorist financing.

FILE PHOTO: Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of the banned Islamic charity Jamat-ud-Dawa, looks over the crowed as they end a "Kashmir Caravan" from Lahore with a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Caren Firouz/File Photo

Authorities have begun seizing control of offices and financial assets of the charities founded by Hafiz Saeed, an official said.

Saeed, one of the founders of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (“Army of the Pure” or LeT), is banned on the international terrorism blacklist maintained by the United Nations.

The United States and India blame Saeed for deadly militant attacks, including a four-day siege by gunmen in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. Washington has offered $10 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Pakistan has banned the LeT but allowed its charity wings to continue operating, maintaining an extensive network which includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services. Washington has long complained about Islamabad’s failure to shut them down.

Punjab province’s law minister, Rana Sanaullah, said the central Ministry of Interior had issued a notification against Saeed’s two charities, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), last week.

“We have received the interior ministry directions, and according to that, Hafiz Saeed and his charities, like JuD and FIF, have been banned to operate in Pakistan,” Sanaullah told Reuters.

The action comes days before a meeting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering watchdog, which will consider a U.S.-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent terrorism financing. Pakistan was on the FATF watchlist from 2012 to 2015.

The United States has labeled JuD and FIF “terrorist fronts” for LeT. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in violence, including the Mumbai attacks. A Pakistani court freed him from house arrest last year after ruling there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Pakistan drew up plans late last year to take over Saeed’s charities in a secret order first reported by Reuters.

In the city of Rawalpindi, located in Punjab province adjacent to the capital Islamabad, district officers had begun taking over the charities’ offices, a city official said.

“We’ve taken over all the JuD and FIF assets. We’ve completed the takeover,” Rawalpindi commissioner Nadeem Aslam told Reuters.

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Aslam said he did not know the exact number of offices and seminaries involved in the asset seizure but data was being compiled in all four districts of Rawalpindi division and he expected full details of the assets.

A spokesmen for JuD, Nadeem Awan, said the government had replaced all of the group’s staff at its headquarters in Muridke just outside the eastern city of Lahore.

“We have received information from various parts of Punjab that the government has started a crackdown against FIF’s ambulance service and health facilities,” he told Reuters.

However, a Reuters reporter visited Al-Qadsia mosque in Lahore, which serves as the JuD’s secretariat, and there was no sign of a government takeover. A separate JuD statement said it would fight a legal battle to against the action, which it said Pakistan was taking to please America and India.

A spokesman for the FIF did not reply to calls and messages for comment. Saeed himself, who rarely speaks to the media, could not be reached for comment.

Pakistani officials involved in the seizures of assets said failure to act against the charities could lead to Pakistan’s inclusion on the FATF watchlist. That would make it harder for foreigners to do business in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.

Pakistan’s de facto finance minister, Miftah Ismail, told Reuters the FATF would consider a motion to place Pakistan on the list but the government was “hopeful” it could make its case to avoid it.</s>Pakistan has amended its anti-terrorism law that authorizes the government to blacklist charities linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed.

Two charities run by Saeed — Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) — have been outlawed by the U.N. Security Council for being "terrorist fronts" for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group Saeed founded 30 years ago that has been blamed for the 2008 deadly attacks in India's financial capital of Mumbai.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain last week quietly approved the amendments to the law, which the government only made public Monday.

Until now, the organizations sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council were not automatically listed as terrorist entities in Pakistan, enabling JuD and FIF to conduct their charity-related activities around the country and collect donations.

Islamabad's move comes a week before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on terror financing holds a crucial meeting in Paris to assess Pakistan's efforts to choke funding sources to terrorist groups, including those linked to Saeed.

Washington has offered a $10 million reward for bringing Saeed to justice and warned Islamabad of repercussions in November after a Pakistani court freed the cleric from months of house arrest, citing a lack of evidence linking him to the Mumbai attacks.

Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the violence and alleges his house arrest was the outcome of U.S. pressure on Pakistan.

The amended anti-terrorism law that was made public would also enable authorities to list two other charities in the country — Al-Akhtar Trust and Al-Rashid Trust — that the U.N. has designated terrorist groups because of their links to al-Qaida.

India has long demanded Pakistan try and punish Saeed for planning the 2008 bloodshed. Islamabad maintains New Delhi has not provided enough evidence to arrest and successfully prosecute the cleric.

Indian authorities allege organizations linked to Saeed are fueling a separatist insurgency in the India-rule portion of the divided Kashmir region.

Bilateral tensions have been running high between the two nuclear-armed rival nations.

Following the latest deadly militant attack against an army base in the disputed region over the weekend, Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned Monday that Pakistan "will have to pay for the misadventure."

Islamabad rejected India's allegations of Pakistani involvement in the attack. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry urged New Delhi to "refrain from any misadventure" across the de facto Kashmir border.</s>Pakistan has officially banned two charities linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, an official said on Wednesday, in a move against the U.N.-designated "terrorist" that the United States says was behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has banned two charities linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, an official said on Wednesday, in a move against the U.N.-designated "terrorist" who the United States says was behind an attack on Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people.

Authorities had begun seizing control of offices and financial assets of the charities, another official said.

The action comes days before a meeting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering watchdog, which will consider a U.S.-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent terrorism financing.

The operations in Pakistan of Saeed's extensive network - which includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services - has been a particular concern of the United States.

Punjab province's law minister, Rana Sanaullah, said the central Ministry of Interior had issued a notification against the two charities, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), this week.

"We have received the interior ministry directions, and according to that, Hafiz Saeed and his charities, like JuD and FIF, have been banned to operate in Pakistan," Sanaullah told Reuters.

The United States has labelled JuD and FIF "terrorist fronts" for Lashkar-e-Taiba ("Army of the Pure" or LeT), a group Saeed founded in 1987 that the United States and India blame for the bloody attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai.

Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks. A Pakistani court freed him from house arrest last year after ruling there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Pakistan drew up plans late last year to take over Saeed's charities in a secret order first reported by Reuters.

In the city of Rawalpindi, in Punjab province, district officers had begun taking over the charities' offices, a city official said.

"We've taken over all the JuD and FIF assets. We've completed the takeover," Rawalpindi commissioner Nadeem Aslam told Reuters.

Aslam said he did not have an exact number of offices and seminaries involved in the asset seizure but data was being compiled in all four districts of Rawalpindi division and he expected full details of the assets.

A spokesmen for JuD declined to make an immediate comment but said a statement would be issued. Officials at FIF could not be reached for comment, nor could Hafiz Saeed himself, who rarely speaks to the media.

Pakistan has banned the LeT but its charity wings, the JUD and FIF have been operating.

The United States has offered US$10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads JuD, which Washington says is a front for the LeT.

Pakistani officials involved in the seizures of assets said failure to act against the charities could lead to Pakistan's inclusion on the FATF watchlist.

That would make it harder for foreigners to do business in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.

Pakistan's de facto finance minister, Miftah Ismail, told Reuters the FATF would consider a motion to place Pakistan on the list but the government was "hopeful" it could make its case to avoid it.

Pakistan was on the FATF watchlist from 2012 to 2015.</s>ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has officially banned two charities linked to Hafiz Saeed, an official said on Wednesday.



Punjab Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the Ministry of Interior issued a notification against Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) this week.

"We have received the interior ministry directions, and according to that, Hafiz Saeed and his charities, like JuD and FIF, have been banned to operate in Pakistan," Sanaullah told Reuters.

"As per the instructions, we have already started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries which belong to the JuD and FIF."</s>Pakistan has banned two charities linked to Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people.

Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been designated a "terrorist" by the United Nations and had a $10m bounty placed on him by the US in 2012.

Rana Sanaullah, law minister for Punjab province, said on Wednesday that Pakistan's interior ministry had issued a notification against the Saeed-founded Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) charity, as well as its associated organisation, the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

"We've received the interior ministry directions, and according to that, Hafiz Saeed and his charities, like JuD and FIF, have been banned to operate in Pakistan," Sanaullah told Reuters news agency.

"As per the instructions, we have already started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries which belong to the JuD and FIF."

Rawalpindi commissioner Nadeem Aslam told Reuters that officials had "taken over all the JuD and FIF assets" and that the "takeover was complete".

The move by Pakistani authorities came days before a key meeting by the Financial Action Task Force, a global money-laundering watchdog, that will consider a US-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent "terrorism" financing, Reuters reported.

Pakistan's Geo News reported that President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday amended the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 "to proscribe entities banned by the United Nations (Security Council) Act 1948".

In 2002, Pakistan banned the LeT as a "terrorist" organisation, and, since 2008, authorities say they have been abiding by UN sanctions that subject JuD to an assets freeze, arms embargo and international travel ban.

Under house arrest since January 2017, Saeed was released in November after a court in Pakistan rejected a government application to extend his detention under anti-terrorism laws, saying there was no evidence to support the application.

He denies any involvement in the Mumbai attacks or connection to LeT, which has been blamed for a series of deadly attacks against Indian security forces and civilians, mostly in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Saeed says he now heads JuD, which has been designated by the UN and US as a front for LeT.

In August, the LeT launched a political party, the Milli Muslim League (MML), and took part in a by-election in the eastern city of Lahore.

However, two months later, the Election Commission of Pakistan rejected its registration due to its links with JuD and FIF.</s>Pakistan has banned two charities linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed in a move against the UN-designated “terrorist,” who the US says was behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, Reuters reported. The move comes days before a key meeting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering watchdog. It will consider a US-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent terrorism financing. Punjab Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the Interior Ministry issued a notification against Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) this week. “Saeed and his charities, like JuD and FIF, have been banned from operating in Pakistan,” Sanaullah said. “We have already started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries which belong to the JuD and FIF.”</s>ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has officially banned two charities linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, an official said on Wednesday, in a move against the U.N.-designated "terrorist" that the United States says was behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.



The move comes days before a key meeting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering watchdog, that will consider a US-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent terrorism financing.



Punjab Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the Ministry of Interior issued a notification against Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) this week.



"We have received the interior ministry directions, and according to that, Hafiz Saeed and his charities, like JuD and FIF, have been banned to operate in Pakistan," Sanaullah told Reuters.



"As per the instructions, we have already started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries which belong to the JuD and FIF."</s>Pakistan has banned two charities linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, a spokesperson for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz-PMLN) told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal on February 14.

The bans on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) come amid calls from the United States and India to take action against Saeed, who they say was behind an attack on Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people.

Pakistan's action comes days before a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force, a global money-laundering watchdog, that will consider a U.S.-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent terrorism financing.

Saeed has been designated as a "terrorist" by the United Nations. He is the founder of the Lashkar-e Taiba (Army of the Pure, or LeT), but he denies any links to militant groups.

Siddiqul Farooq, the ruling party spokesman, told Radio Mashaal in a telephone interview that the government has targeted the bank accounts of the charities banned under the measure.

 

 “The [government] has taken control of the various institutes -- like educational ones -- established by these groups," he said. "The government froze their accounts. The government has banned their welfare work.”

 

 “Our government has succeeded in proving that we are determined to ban those people [and groups] who are sanctioned by the UN. That is why we have taken control of their groups and I thank God that, unlike before, the people do not support them,” he said.</s>ISLAMABAD (AP) - Amid increasing pressure from the international community, Pakistan on Wednesday initiated a much-awaited process of seizing assets and funds belonging to Islamic charities linked to a radical cleric wanted by the U.S., officials said.

It was the first step against Hafiz Saeed since he was freed by Pakistani authorities in November on a court order. He is the founder of the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

His release drew criticism from both Washington and neighboring India at the time.

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 file photo, supporters of Hafiz Saeed, center, head of the Pakistani religious party, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is showered with rose petals by his supporters as he arrives to a court in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan has started seizing assets and funds belonging to Islamic charities linked to a radical cleric wanted by Washington who was released from detention late last year. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistan's Interior Ministry issued a notification on Wednesday requiring authorities to immediately seize the assets of Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is believed to be a front for Lashker-e-Taiba. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for his arrest.

Saeed denies involvement in the Mumbai attacks and claims his charities are only under a U.N. watch list.

The move came a day after Pakistan's Cabinet approved new rules in an effort to tighten the noose around outlawed extremist and militant organizations and seize their financial assets. The step was taken after Pakistan issued an ordinance, amending a decades-old anti-terrorism law, to allow authorities to act against outlawed charities, groups or individuals listed by the U.N. Security Council.

Two government officials said they seized health facilities, schools and ambulances of two Saeed charities and renamed them instead of shutting them down. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media on the record.

Saeed is known for publicly supporting militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, which is split between Pakistan and India and is claimed by both. Many in the Indian-controlled portion favor independence or a merger with Pakistan and violence has increased in Indian-controlled Kashmir in recent years.</s>ISLAMABAD >> Amid increasing pressure from the international community, Pakistan on Wednesday began seizing assets and funds belonging to Islamic charities linked to a radical cleric wanted by the U.S., officials said.

It was the first step against Hafiz Saeed since he was freed by Pakistani authorities in November on a court order. He is the founder of the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

His release drew criticism from both Washington and neighboring India at the time.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry issued a notification on Wednesday requiring authorities to immediately seize the assets of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is believed to be a front for Lashker-e-Taiba. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for his arrest.

Saeed denies involvement in the Mumbai attacks and claims his charities are only under a U.N. watch list.

The move came a day after Pakistan’s Cabinet approved new rules in an effort to tighten the noose around outlawed extremist and militant organizations and seize their financial assets. The step was taken after Pakistan issued an ordinance, amending a decades-old anti-terrorism law, to allow authorities to act against outlawed charities, groups or individuals listed by the U.N. Security Council.

Two government officials said they seized health facilities, schools and ambulances of two Saeed charities and renamed them instead of shutting them down. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media on the record.

Yahya Mujahid, spokesman for Saeed and his charity, angrily reacted to the seizing of assets and funds by the government, claiming the move was aimed at appeasing the United States.

In a statement, he said the government move could badly affect their charities’ welfare work and deprive many people of work. He vowed to fight the government in court and insisted Saeed had been kept under house arrest without any justification in the past.

He asked supporters to exercise restraint in reaction to the decision after confirming the government was seizing their hospitals, schools, ambulances and others assets across the country.

Saeed is known for publicly supporting militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, which is split between Pakistan and India and is claimed by both. Many in the Indian-controlled portion favor independence or a merger with Pakistan and violence has increased in Indian-controlled Kashmir in recent years.
Pakistan moves to ban two charities linked to terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.