26/11 attacks planner Mir convicted week before FATF meeting

TOP LET OPERATIVE SAJID MIR WAS ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN DIRECTING THE 2008 MUMBAI ATTACKS

NEW DELHI: Further details have emerged of the arrest and conviction of top Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Sajid Mir, who was allegedly involved in directing the 2008 Mumbai attacks, with Pakistani media reporting that he was given a prison term by a Lahore court a week before a crucial Financial Action Task Force FATF meeting in June.

Hindustan Times on Friday reported that Pakistani authorities had informed Western interlocutors about the detention and sentencing of Mir sometime before the plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Berlin during June 14-17. The move followed pressure from several Western countries for proof of Islamabad’s earlier claim that Mir had died some time ago.

Mir, 44, was sentenced by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore in the first week of June to 15-anda-half years in jail after being convicted in a terror financing case, the Dawn newspaper reported on Saturday. Mir was also fined Pakistani ₹420,000, and is serving his sentence at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore, the daily cited a source as saying.

“It all happened so quietly that no one came to know about such an important court verdict in such a high-profile case, except for a very brief report in one of the newspapers, which too could not attract attention. His detention, which apparently took place in later part of April, was also kept away from media’s prying eyes,” the Dawn reported.

People familiar with the matter, however, said on Friday that the Indian side had learnt from multilateral channels that Mir was arrested in April and subsequently given an eight-year prison term after a low-key trial. Pakistan has so far not informed India about Mir’s case through bilateral channels.

The Lahore-based The Nation daily first reported about Mir’s conviction on June 7.

In a brief report with a Lahore dateline, the daily had said an “Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has convicted Sajid Majeed Chaudhary, also known as Sajid Mir, in a terror financing case for 15.5 years”.

The report added, “The court has also awarded him with a fine of ₹4,20,000. He was affiliated with a proscribed organization.”

The Nation’s report on Mir’s conviction came exactly a week before FATF’s plenary meeting began in Berlin.