The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab on Wednesday arrested Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as he was going to Gujranwala to seek bail from an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in a terror financing case.
The CTD Punjab spokesperson told media that Saeed has been sent to prison on judicial remand after the CTD officials presented him before a Gujranwala anti-terrorism court (ATC). The CTD was directed to complete its investigation and submit a charge sheet to the court in the stipulated time, he added.
On July 3, the CTD, on the instruction of Punjab government, had booked the top 13 leaders of the outlawed JuD including Hafiz Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki in nearly two dozen cases for terror-financing and money-laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
The CTD, which registered cases in five districts of Punjab, declared that the JuD was financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations (NPOs) and trusts including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawat-ul-Irshad Trust, Muaz-Bin-Jabal Trust etc.
In April, these organisations were banned in April as the CTD during the detailed investigations found that they had ties with the outlawed JuD and its top leadership, accused of financing terrorism by building huge assets/properties from the collected funds in Pakistan.
On Monday, a Lahore High Court division bench sought replies from the Ministry of Interior, Punjab Home Department and the CTD on a petition filed by JuD chief Saeed and his seven aides, challenging FIRs carrying a charge of terror financing.
Representing the petitioners, Advocate A.K. Dogar had contended that the facts narrated in the "impugned FIR" registered on July 1, 2019, illegally described them as members of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and leveled unlawful allegations of terror financing. Dogar referred to a 2009 judgment by a LHC full bench against the detention of Hafiz Saeed and stated that the petitioners were not members of LeT.
In addition, an ATC in Lahore on Monday had granted pre-arrest bail to the Saeed and three others in a case pertaining to the outfit's alleged illegal use of land for its seminary against the surety bonds of Rs 50,000 each.
In February, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had warned Pakistan to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing and money laundering. Risks to the global financial system have virtually put the country's entire machinery into an aggressive mode to show tangible progress within two months of the warning.
While the meetings were taking place, the government had announced a ban on JuD and Falah-e-Insanyat Foundation to partially address the concerns raised by India that Pakistan supported these and six similar organisations, including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) or at least considered them low-risk entities.
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