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Pakistan launches crackdown on Islamic charity, detains chief, other leaders

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Dec 12, IRNA
Pakistan-Crackdown
Police in Pakistan has launched a major crackdown on Islamic charity group after the UN Security Council slapped sanctions on the outfit and put its chief under house arrest, officials said Thursday.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of `Jamaat-ud-Daawa' who was added by the Security Council, to the list of terrorist persons, was detrained at his residence in the eastern city of Lahore, a group's spokesman Abdullah Muntazir said.

Muntazir said that 10 central leaders of the group, being among dozens of activists, were detained across the country and Pakistan- controlled Kashmir.

He said most of the groups offices were also sealed after the government banned the charity.

The Security Council slapped sanctions on the outfit and added its four leaders in the list of terrorists for their links with al-Qaeda and Taliban.

The Security Council added three Pakistani entities and three of its nationals including Hafiz Saeed and a Saudi national to the list of people facing sanctions.

The leaders belong to the militant 'Lashkar-e-Taiba' group which has been blamed for the last month Mumbai attacks, which killed nearly 180 people and injured over 300 others.

The Security Council panel also said that the charity Jamaat-ud- Daawa was a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and subject to sanctions.

Besides Hafiz Saeed, other leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba who have been added to the list by the panel are: Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, described as Lashkar's chief of operations, Haji Muhammad
Ashraf, its finance chief.

Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a Saudi national, described as a financier for the group, was also added to the list.

The four face an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

A spokesman for the country's State Bank said that assets of the group and their leaders have been frozen.

The Interior Ministry asked the authorities to seal offices of the groups across the country and freeze all their bank accounts, the interior ministry spokesman Shaid Beg said.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told a top US diplomat that Pakistan will implement sanctions on Pakistani groups and individuals.

Gilani told US Deputy Secretary of State, John D. Negroponte, that Pakistan would take note of the designation of certain individuals and entities by the UN under 1267 resolution of the UN Security Council and would fulfill its international obligations.