The Pakistan government on Tuesday formally banned Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its affiliate Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation under Anti Terrorism Act 1997.
The updated National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) list shows JuD, which was behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and FIF as the 69th and 70th outfit banned by the Pakistan Interior Ministry.
The development comes after the list updated on Monday showed that the organisations were not banned despite the government announcing on February 21 that JuD and FIF be notified as proscribed organisations.
On Monday, the list showed that the JuD and FIF were in the names of organisations “under watch” and did not figure in a separate category of banned organisations. The updated list released on Tuesday shows JuD and FIF as the 69th and 70th outfit banned by the Pakistan Interior Ministry.
The JuD and FIF have been designated as terror organisations by the United Nations. On Monday, Islamabad also issued a United Nations Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) order to implement sanctions against designated terrorists and terrorist groups.
Amid pressure from the global community to rein in terror groups following the Pulwama attack, Pakistan had reinstated a ban on JuD and FIF on February 21.
The decision was taken at a National Security Committee meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and key federal ministers.
In February last year, former president Mamnoon Hussain had promulgated an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act with regard to the proscription of terrorists and organisations to include entities listed by the UN Security Council. The move had resulted in the declaration of JuD and FIF as proscribed groups.
