Pakistan re-imposes ban on Hafiz Saeed’s Islamist charities

Pakistan on Thursday re-imposed a ban on the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), formed by Hafiz Saeed to sidestep the ban on his Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and its charity arm, the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation.

The ban comes as Pakistan faces international pressure to act against militant groups, amid escalating tension with its nuclear-armed neighbor, India, following a suicide bomb attack on Indian police in the disputed region of Kashmir.

The attack, in which 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed, was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, to discuss the geo-strategic and national security environment in light of the Pulwama suicide bombing and its aftermath, media reports said.

The United States and India have blamed the LeT for numerous deadly militant attacks, including a four-day siege by gunmen in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people.

The United States has offered $10 million for information leading to Saeed’s arrest and conviction.

“It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organizations,” Pakistan’s interior ministry said in a statement.

Saeed, who denies being the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks and says he has no links to militant violence, has maintained that the two charities - the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) - are vital for helping the poor and have no militant ties.

JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid said the two groups would turn to the courts to overturn the latest ban.

The two entities had been proscribed in an ordinance promulgated by then President Mamnoon Hussein in February last year to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act with regards to the proscription of terrorist individuals and organizations to include entities listed by the UN Security Council but this had lapsed.