Pak Prez signs ordinance to rein in ultras

Islamabad, February 12 

Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain has signed an ordinance aimed at reigning in individuals and organisations like the LeT, Al-Qaeda and Taliban, which have been banned by the UN Security Council, a media report said today.

The ordinance amends a section of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), enabling the authorities to take action against the UNSC-proscribed individuals and terror outfits, like sealing their offices and freezing their bank accounts, The Express Tribune reported. The sources in the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) confirmed the new move, saying the ministries of Interior, Finance and Foreign Affairs as well as NACTA’s Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) wing are working together on the matter.

An official in the president office familiar with the development confirmed the said legislation but refused to share details, saying the Ministry of Defence was the notifying authority.

“The relevant ministry will notify and comment on it,” the official said. It is learnt that the authorities are bound under international obligations to take measures against such outfits under the framework of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – an international body that combats money laundering and terrorist financing.

The UNSC sanctions list includes Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and others.

In December last year, the government had planned to take over two charities belonging to Hafiz Saeed – the JuD and the FIF – and an action plan in this connection was supposed to be submitted.

Last month, the government had banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations. Jundullah was the last organisation declared “proscribed” by the government of Pakistan on January 31, 2018 on the NACTA website. However, the JuD and the FIF continue to be on the NACTA “watch list”.

LeT was declared a banned organisation under the UNSC resolution 1267 in 2005. The US State Department in 2014 had named the JuD as a “foreign terrorist organization”.

India has alleged that the JuD leader Saeed was key conspirator behind Mumbai attacks of November 2006. 

Pak Taliban’s No. 2 killed in US drone strike

Peshawar: Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) today confirmed that the group’s deputy chief Khalid Mehsud alias Sajna was killed in a US drone strike on February 8 in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal region.

“We confirm that the deputy head of the TTP Khalid Mehsud died in a drone strike,” Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khurassani said in a text message to reporters.

Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah has appointed commander Mufti Noor Wali Wali as his new deputy, Khurassani added. Officials in Pakistan had earlier reported about Sajna’s death in a US strike.

Sajna was a leading figure of the Taliban and that both Pakistani and American security forces were after him for a long time.

According to Pakistani officials, Sajna was battle- hardened with experience of fighting in Afghanistan.

Sajna, in his early 40s, was believed to be involved in an attack on a naval base in Karachi and was credited with masterminding a 2012 jailbreak in which the Taliban freed nearly 400 inmates in the northwestern city of Bannu. — PTI

AFTER DECADE, Barricades from JuD Hqs removed 

Lahore: Acting on the orders of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, police today removed the barricades placed by the members of the banned Jamaat-ud Dawah outside the group’s headquarters here in the name of security after over a decade. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had ordered the IG Punjab police to open all roads blocked in the name of security in Lahore. “If you fail to submit a compliance report, the court will decide your fate. You are not going to stay as the IG even if the chief minister wants to retain you,” Justice Nisar warned.  Deputy Inspector General (Lahore) Dr Haider Ashraf today said police had removed blockades from some 16 places including the JuD headquarters on the order of the Supreme Court. PTI