Pakistan bans Hafiz Saeed-led JuD and its charity wing

TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ Pakistan has banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawah and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 41 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office on Thursday.”It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organisations by the Ministry of Interior,” he added. However, it remains to be seen how effective the latest ban would be on the two groups, which have the tacit backing of the political leaders and the security agencies.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry. According to officials, JuD’s network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.