'Process of confiscating JuD, FIF assets still incomplete'

A senior Pakistani Government official said that the process of confiscating the assets of the Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) was still to be completed.

While speaking at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Thursday, Pakistan Interior Ministry Arshad Mirza said that a list of JuD and FIF assets were prepared by the country's intelligence bureau.

The meeting discussed the implication of Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) decision to put Pakistan on the "grey list" from June and the steps being taken to address global concerns.

He described the list as the "geo-mapping of properties and assets of banned organisations", The Express Tribune reported.

As of now, the process of confiscating the FIF and JuD's assets has been completed only in the capital Islamabad and the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, where they had only some few properties.

According to the figures presented by Mirza before the Senate Committee, 148 properties of the two entities linked to JuD founder-chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed have been confiscated in nine out of 10 divisions in Punjab.

However, no action was taken place in other provinces in Pakistan such as - Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The assets of the medical wings of the two groups were to be taken over by Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), which had made all arrangements. However, the transfer did not happen due to unknown regions.

Mirza announced that the Pakistan finance ministry would hold a meeting to deliberate on the country's action to overcome the shortcomings pointed out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global counter-illicit financing watchdog.

Former Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik said that the government should implement proposals as mentioned in the National Action Plan (NAP) on terror financing.

He added that Pakistan had suffered more than any other country in the war against terrorism and the world instead of appreciating its role was putting it on the grey list. He suspected Indian involvement in such moves against Pakistan.

Malik also demanded that a task force should be created to crack down on terror financing and money laundering.

In January, Saeed's entities were moved from Pakistan's watch list to the list of proscribed organisations after the government introduced a presidential ordinance by amending the Anti-Terrorism Act to include UN-designated terrorist groups and individuals for terror financing, paved the way for the confiscation of JuD and FIF assets.

However, despite the ban, the entities were found to be freely operating in Pakistan.

Last month, Pakistani authorities confirmed that the country was going back on the "grey list" of the FATF, after a span of nearly four years.

--ANI