Pakistan cancels Saeed’s arms licences

Days after listing the Mumbai terror attack mastermind, Lashkar-e-Toiba founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief, Hafiz Saeed, under the Anti-Terrorism Act, Pakistan has taken another step of cancelling the licences of 44 weapons issued to JuD chief Hafiz Saeed and other members of his organisations, citing security reasons.

Reacting cautiously, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) here called these moves as the “first logical steps” in bringing Saeed to justice and ridding the region of terrorism and violent extremism.

Last month, Saeed had been placed under “house arrest”. He was later put in the exit control list.

The appointment of its permanent representative to the United Nations Tehmina Janjua as the country’s new Foreign Secretary, superseding its High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit is also seen a step towards normalising ties.

Insiders here said, Basit had ruffled feathers in Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office by sabotaging the national security advisory talks at the instance of military leadership in 2015 when he invited Kashmiri leaders to meet the visiting Pakistani leader Sartaj Aziz.

Intelligence sources here said Saeed holds control over some 15,000 armed cadres, who need to be disarmed for the sake of peace in the region. They, however, said New Delhi does understand that any haphazard action could make these cadres shiftloyalties and join other lethal groups.

According to the notification issued by the Home Department of Pakistan’s Punjab province, both JuD and Falaha-i-Insanyat are engaged in certain activities which could be prejudicial to peace and security and in violation of Pakistan’s obligations to the United Nations Security Council Resolution. It said that both these organisations hadbeen placed in the Second Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Saeed, who has a $10 million bounty on his head, was also put under house arrest after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack but he was freed by the Lahore High Court in 2009.

An Interior Ministry official in Islamabad was quoted by the news agencies as saying, “the government may take some further steps against the JuD and its sister organisations in the coming days.”

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations said Pakistan wants peace with India and a resolution of all issues, including Kashmir, through talks held on the basis of self-respect and honour, but it should not be considered as weakness.

Opposition in the Pakistan Punjab Assembly on Tuesday staged a walkout to protest against Saeed’s detention. The opposition led by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party said the PML-N Government has taken the step on the pressure of US President Donald Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

His supporters also protested in Islamabad, denouncing the decision, according to an official of Interior Ministry who was monitoring the situation after Saeed’s arrest.

The government has issued instructions to all the departments concerned, including the State Bank of Pakistan, commercial banks, law enforcement agencies at the federal level, including Federal Bureau of Revenue and Federal Investigation Agency as well as provincial governments to implement these orders.

There have been reports that Islamabad has immense pressure from new US administration to take action against Saeed and his organisations. Saeed was also put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif during an international security conference in Munich, Germany also said Saeed can pose a “serious threat” to the nation, and was thus placed under house arrest in the country’s “larger interests”.

During a panel discussion on counter-extremism and terrorism, Asif said: “Terrorism is not synonymous to any religion. Terrorists aren’t Christians or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. They are terrorists, they are criminals.”

Meanwhile, Shuhada Foundation Trust, a non-governmental organisation associated with Lal Masjid in Rawalpindi, challenged the legality of the ongoing operation launched by law enforcement agencies being conducted against terrorism suspects.

Pakistan will submit its compliance report to The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body on account of implementing money laundering laws in an effective manner, which will be a pre-requisite to maintaining the country in the white list of FATF, a Pakistani newspaper The News International  said.

In case of non-compliance, Pakistan might have slipped into grey and negative and danger zone in terms of labelling it in the negative list on account of terrorism financing.

Oppn protest

Opposition in Pakistan Punjab Assembly staged a walkout to protest Saeed’s detention. It said the PML-N government has taken the step on the pressure of Trump and Modi administrations.