Pakistan bans Hafiz Saeed-backed terror outfit Tehreek-e-Azadi-Jammu and Kashmir
According to the the National Counter Terrorism Authority of Pakistan website, TAJK was placed on the list of ‘proscribed organisations’ on June 8.
Tehreek-e-Azadi-Jammu and Kashmir, an outfit India claims is a front for Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has been banned by Pakistan, The Times of India reported on Friday. Investigative agencies have said the JuD masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which over 160 people had died.
In February, India had raised the issue at the Financial Action Task Force, a global anti-financial terror body, reported The Hindu. “This is the first time, Pakistan has banned an outfit on the basis of representations submitted by India to an international body,” a senior government official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
On June 8, TAJK was placed on the list of “proscribed organisations”, according to the website of the National Counter Terrorism Authority under Pakistan’s Interior Ministry. JuD, however, still remains in the category of “organisations under watch”. The list comprises 64 terror outfits, including Jaish-e-Mohammad, Al Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban and Balochistan Liberation Army, among others.
The inter-governmental FATF is scheduled to update its assessment of “high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions” next month, AP had reported. In late January, Saeed had been put under house arrest and the JuD on the “under watch” list.