US Slams Pakistan For Taking Off Hafiz Saeed's Outfits From Terror List

The United States said on Tuesday that the recent removal of the ban on terrorist Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) runs counter to Pakistan's commitment to the Financial Action Task Force or FATF, and would jeopardise the country's ability to meet its commitments to fight terrorism under the UN Security Council resolution.

Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's outfits JuD and FIF are no longer on the list of banned outfits in Pakistan as the ordinance that proscribed them under a UN resolution has lapsed and the new Imran Khan-led government did not extend it, a media report said last week.

"The expiration of the ban on JuD and FIF runs counter to Pakistan's commitment to work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to address weaknesses in its counter-terrorism financing regime," a US State Department spokesperson told news agency PTI.

The spokesperson was responding to a question on the recent lapse of the ordinance that led to lifting of the ban on the two outfits.

"As we have said before, the United States is deeply concerned that this development will jeopardise Pakistan's ability to meet its commitments under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 to freeze and prevent the raising and moving of funds belonging to or associated with UN-designated terrorist groups," the spokesperson said.

The development underscores the importance of Pakistan "urgently enacting legislation that formally proscribes" both JuD and FIF, the spokesperson said.

India has been pushing Pakistan to bring to justice the planners of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Hafiz Saeed is the co-founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was responsible for the attacks in which 166 people were killed.