Pakistan bans Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation

Islamabad: Pakistan's Interior Ministry has formally banned terror organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its subsidiary, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), news agency ANI reported. The organisations that belong to Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of 2008 Mumbai terror attack, have reportedly been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Pakistan has reportedly been tightening the noose of terrorists and their organisations amid mounting diplomatic pressure to act against terrorism. Earlier today, Pakistan claimed that it has launched a crackdown against banned terror groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that carried out the deadly Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in February. Citing the Interior Ministry Pakistan's Dunya News said 44 members of the banned outfits, including JeM, were arrested on Tuesday. Some reports said the suspects have only been detained. Reports said JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother Abdul Rauf Asghar alias Mufti Abdur Rauf was among 44 terror suspects taken into custody by the Pakistani authorities. Last month, Islamabad banned 69 groups in a bid to save face ahead of FATF’s decision to blacklist Pakistan for terrorism financing, in a last-ditch effort. The move comes amid intense lobbying by India to get the country blacklisted. Amid India’s continued efforts to isolate Pakistan and increasing global pressure on Islamabad to act against terrorism, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to keep Pakistan in the ‘grey list’ for now. New Delhi had lobbied hard to blacklist Islamabad over terror funding in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. The decision to keep FATF in the greylist was taken after week-long discussions by the intergovernmental watchdog in Paris on February 21. Source: Times Now