Amid increasing pressure from the international community, Pakistan on Wednesday began seizing assets and funds belonging to charities linked to extremists, officials said.
It was the first step against Hafiz Saeed since he was freed by Pakistani authorities in November on a court order. He is the founder of the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
Pakistan’s Interior Ministry issued a notification on Wednesday requiring authorities to immediately seize the assets of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa is believed to be a front for Lashker-e-Taiba.
Saeed denies involvement in the Mumbai attacks and claims his charities are only under a U.N. watch list.
The move came a day after Pakistan’s Cabinet approved new rules in an effort to tighten the noose around outlawed extremist and militant organizations and seize their financial assets. The step was taken after Pakistan issued an ordinance, amending a decades-old anti-terrorism law, to allow authorities to act against outlawed charities, groups or individuals listed by the U.N. Security Council.
