Fearing Global Body Blacklist, Pakistan Sanctions Mumbai Attack Terrorist

Pakistan has imposed severe financial curbs on global terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, over a decade after he masterminded the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in which over 160 Indians had died and 300 had been injured. The cash-starved nation that has been ignoring for years India's demand to bring the chief conspirators of the ghastly attack to justice, is reportedly trying to wriggle out of the Grey List of the terrorist-financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force or FATF.

In 2008, 10 Pakistani terrorists had launched a coordinated attack on Mumbai, indiscriminately shooting at innocent civilians at several locations. 9 of them had been killed by the security forces in operations that stretched for several hours; one - Ajmal Kasab - had been caught alive and was executed in 2012 following a court trial.

Lakhvi was briefly jailed by Pakistan but later released on bail despite India furnishing evidence of his involvement. Another mastermind Hafiz Saeed had also remained under house arrest before being set free.

"Freeze, without delay and without prior notice, the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of these individuals, undertakings and entities," a Pakistani executive order against Lakhvi read.

The terrorist will also be banned from travelling abroad.

The Paris-based FATF had put Pakistan on the Grey List in June 2018 for not taking concrete action to arrest terror financing in the country. It had asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action by the end of 2019, but the deadline was extended later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If Pakistan fails to comply with the FATF directive by October, the body could push the Imran Khan-led country onto the "Black List" along with North Korea and Iran.

Earlier this month, the Pakistani Parliament had cleared four bills linked to the conditions set up by the FATF.

News Agency PTI has quoted a report from Pakistan daily The News that in compliance with the new terror list issued by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently, the government has imposed sanctions on key figures of terror outfits such as the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), JeM, Taliban, Daesh, Haqqani Group, al-Qaeda, and others.

The paper reported that Saeed, Masood Azhar, Mullah Fazlullah (alias Mullah Radio), Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Hakeem Murad, wanted by Interpol, Noor Wali Mehsud, Fazal Raheem Shah of Uzbekistan Liberation Movement, Taliban leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani, Khalil Ahmad Haqqani, Yahya Haqqani, and Ibrahim and his associates are on the UN list.

With inputs from PTI