New Delhi: The Pakistan government is reportedly working to "permanently ban" Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s JuD and other entities on its watch list.
According to a report in Dawn, a proposed draft bill to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 is set to be tabled in the upcoming session of Pakistan National Assembly, scheduled to commence on Monday.
“The law ministry was involved in the process for the purpose of vetting the proposed draft bill and the military establishment was also on board,” Pakistan’s English-language newspaper quoted a source as saying.
The report stated that the Pakistani government decided to prepare a draft bill to amend the ATA as part of its damage-control campaign after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) approved a nomination proposal tabled jointly by the US, the UK, France and Germany to place Pakistan on the international watchdog’s money-laundering and terror-financing grey list in February.
Recently, the United Nations Security Council updated its consolidated list of terrorists and individuals and named Dawood Ibrahim and Hafiz Saeed, among hundreds of other Pakistan-based outfits and individuals.
The Council also designated Milli Muslim League (MML), the political front of Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud Dawa, as a foreign terrorist organization.
Besides MML, the US added Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) to the list of terrorist groups. TAJK is said to be a front of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which according to the Trump administration, continues to operate freely inside Pakistan.
United States President Donald Trump, in his first tweet of the New Year, had blasted the Pakistan leadership by saying that they have given America "nothing but lies and deceit" despite having received more than USD 33 billion in last 15 years. They later suspended their USD 255 million military aid to Pakistan till the South Asian country did not "respond to terrorism on its soil".
Saeed is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.
When contacted, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, special assistant to Pakistan prime minister, said that the amendment to the ATA was a subject of the interior ministry. He added the law would not introduce anything new, as it would basically ensure compliance to the UNSC Resolutions.
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