Further tightening the noose on Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan has cancelled the licenses of 44 weapons issued to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and other members of his organisations, citing security reasons.
An official of the Punjab Home Department said the step has been taken in line with the government’s action against Saeed and his organisations – the JuD and the Falaha-e-Insanyat (FIF).
“The Punjab Home Department cancelled licenses of 44 weapons for security reasons,” the official told PTI on Tuesday.
The government on January 30 had put Saeed and four other leaders of his organizations under house arrest in Lahore for a period of 90 days.
Saeed and 37 members of JuD and FIF have also been placed on the Exit Control List, barring them from leaving the country.
According to the Punjab Home Department notification, “Both JuD and FIF 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 and both organisations have been placed in the Second Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.”
“Hafiz Saeed, Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Kashif Niazi are engaged in certain activities which could be prejudicial to peace and security.”
The federal government has also put JuD and FIF on the watch list for six months.
Pakistan has also put Hafiz Saeed on terror list, a move welcomed by India as the first logical step in bringing him to justice.
Hafiz Saeed is wanted by India and the US for his alleged role in masterminding the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that claimed 166 lives. He even carries a bounty of USD 10 million (over Rs 66 crore) on his head for his role in the attack.
He was put under house arrest after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack but he was freed by Lahore High Court in 2009.
While Pakistan claims to have banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in 2002, following an attack on the Indian Parliament, it re-emerged as Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD). The United States has designated the JuD as a front for the LeT.
Pakistan has acknowledged for the first time that one of India's most wanted terrorists, Hafiz Saeed, poses a serious threat to Islamabad.
According to media reports, country’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has said that apart from being a threat to India, Saeed can be a threat to Islamabad and that he was put under house arrest in the ‘larger national interest’.
(With PTI inputs)
