Pakistan plans to take over Hafiz Saeed’s ‘charities’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said his government will push ahead with plans to seize control of charities run by an Islamist designated a terrorist by Washington, and warned the United States not to weaken Pakistan.
Abbasi brushed off US President Donald Trump’s recent tweet accusing Pakistan of “lies and deception” in its commitment to fighting terrorism, as he raised the prospect of charging the US to use Pakistan’s airspace to resupply Nato troops in Afghanistan.
Under pressure from the US and international institutions to crack down on terrorist financing, Pakistan last month drew up secret plans for a “takeover” of charities linked to Hafiz Saeed, who Washington blames for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
The US has labelled the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as “terrorist fronts” for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group Saeed founded in 1987 and which Washington and India accuse of carrying out the Mumbai attacks.
“Yes, the government will take over the charities which are sanctioned and not allowed to operate,” Abbasi, 59, told Reuters in an interview at the prime minister’s chamber in Parliament in Islamabad on Monday.
Answering specific questions about the proposed takeover of the JuD and FIF, Abbasi said the civilian government had the backing of the powerful military, which effectively controls Pakistan’s security and foreign policy.
“Everybodyisonboard,everybody is on the same page, everybody is committed to implementation of UN sanctions,” he said. He declined to set a deadline.
JuD and FIF did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The organisations have previously said they would take legal action if the government tried to take them over.
Saeed could not be reached for comment.