Hafiz Saeed's Brother-In-Law Arrested In Pakistan For Hate Speech

Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's brother-in-law Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki has been arrested for hate speech and criticising the Pakistan government, police said on Wednesday.

Makki, head of JuD's political and international affairs wing and in-charge of its charity Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), was arrested during a government crackdown against terrorist organisations.

Police spokesperson Nabila Ghazanfar confirmed Makki's arrest. She, however, did not explain the charges under which he was arrested. Sources said Makki has been arrested for making a hate speech in Gujranwala city, some 80-km from Lahore.

The sources also said his arrest should be seen in connection with the government's steps to comply with the requirement of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a $10 million reward for information that brings him to justice.

Saeed is keeping a low profile and currently living at his Lahore residence under high security. For the first time in two decades, Saeed was not allowed to enter and deliver weekly sermon at JuD headquarters in Lahore since early this March.

The JuD and its sister organization Falah-i-Insaniat (FIF) leadership has already gone underground in the wake of the government's action against the proscribed organisations.

In February, Paris-based international terror financing watchdog FATF decided to continue the ''Grey'' listing of Pakistan for its failure to stop funding of terrorist groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the JuD.

After the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 Indian security personnel were killed by a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based JeM, prime minister Khan had said Islamabad would not spare any group involved in militancy or using Pakistani soil for any kind of terror activity against other countries.

The FIF, like the JuD, was also banned in March by the Pakistan government. Recently, the government announced to take control of more than 30,000 religious seminaries.

The JuD is the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.