Lahore:
UN designated worldwide terrorist Masood Azhar, chief of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), really should be arrested by January 18 in connection with a terror financing case, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has asked the Punjab Police, a court official mentioned on Saturday.
The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala issued an arrest warrant against Azhar in the terror financing case instituted by the CTD in the prior hearing on Thursday.
“ATC Gujranwala judge Natasha Naseem Supra during the case hearing on Friday directed the CTD to arrest JeM chief Masood Azhar by January 18 and present him in the court. In case of failure (to arrest him), the court may begin proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender,” a court official told PTI on Saturday.
Azhar is facing charges of terror financing and promoting jihadi literature.
Following the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019, Pakistan’s Punjab police had launched a crackdown on terrorism financing and arrested six terrorists of the JeM in Gujranwala, some 130 kms from Lahore. Azhar is facing the trial in this case.
Following the immense international stress right after the Pulwama attack, the Pakistan government arrested more than one hundred members of the banned terrorist outfits such as the JeM chief’s son and brother.
The government also took handle of the JeM, Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Falahai Insaniat Foundation (FIF) properties such as seminaries and mosques across the nation.
The JeM had claimed duty for the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers had been killed.
Pakistan’s Punjab government claimed to have taken more than the administrative handle of the JeM headquarters – comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah – in Bahawalpur.
In May 2019, the United Nations designated Azhar as a “global terrorist” right after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-primarily based JeM chief, a decade right after New Delhi approached the planet body for the very first time on the situation.
The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as becoming related with Al-Qaeda for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to”, “recruiting for”, “otherwise supporting acts or activities of”, and “other acts or activities indicating association with” the JeM.
Azhar is a fugitive released by India in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999. After his release, Azhar formed the JeM and scripted several terror attacks in India.
On February 26, 2019, India launched air strikes on JeM’s largest education camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.
Paris-primarily based worldwide terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and working with its territory to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere.
The FATF placed Pakistan on the Grey List in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a strategy of action to curb revenue laundering and terror financing by the finish of 2019 but the deadline was extended later due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Reacting to the jail sentence handed out to Mumbai attack mastermind and UN proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and the issuance of an arrest warrant against JeM chief Azhar, India on Friday scoffed at Pakistan, saying it has grow to be a routine for Islamabad to come up with “farcical actions” prior to essential international meetings.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava mentioned the timing clearly suggests the intention of conveying a sense of compliance ahead of APG (Asia-Pacific Group) meet and the subsequent FATF plenary meet in February 2021.
“It has become routine for Pakistan to come up with such farcical actions prior to important meetings.
“UN proscribed entities and designated terrorists act as proxies for Pakistani establishment to fulfil its anti-India agenda. It is for the international neighborhood to hold Pakistan to account and guarantee that it requires credible action against terror groups, terror infrastructure and person terrorists,” Mr Srivastava added.