Pak seals JuD Hqrs

LAHORE, Mar 7:  Pakistan authorities today sealed the Lahore headquarters of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and detained over 120 suspected militants as part of an ongoing crackdown on banned groups.
“Under the National Action Plan (NAP), the government has taken complete control of the banned JuD and FIF headquarters in Lahore and Muridkey,” said a statement issued by the Punjab Home department Thursday.
It said the Government has been taking over the control of the mosques, seminaries and other institutions of the banned organisations in the province. “We have intensified action against the banned organisations,” it said.
A senior Punjab Government official said that the authorities have sealed the Jamia Masjid Qadsia, the Lahore headquarters of the JuD and FIF.
“At least six administrators of the Punjab Government have been appointed at the Muridke headquarters of JuD and two in Lahore’s,” the official said, adding that the Jamia Qadsia has been sealed and will be opened once the administrators take over the charge.
The official said the Punjab Government has also taken over the complete control of the JuD headquarters in Muridke, some 40-km from Lahore. However, the Gome Department did not confirm it.
The official further said that Saeed and his supporters did not protest when the administration and police reached there to take over the control of the building.
“Saeed along with his supporters left for his Jauhar Town residence,” he said. His whereabouts was not immediately known.
Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.
The ongoing operation against the banned groups would continue till achievement of objectives under the National Action Plan (NAP) of 2014, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi said, adding that efforts were being made to accelerate progress on NAP.
Some 44 activists of Jaish-e-Mohammed and other banned groups, including the son and brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, had already been taken into custody.
The Ministry of Interior said law enforcement agencies had taken 121 people into preventive detention as of Thursday in compliance with the NAP, formulated after the Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar in 2014 that killed nearly 150 people, mostly students. (PTI)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here