News behind the News – 08 July 2019

indiaanditsneighbours

JULY 08, 2019 News the Newsbehind 15

IN

THIS

SECTION

15 PAK CRACKDOWN ON MUMBAI MASTERMIND HAFIZ SAEED COSMETIC - INDIA

16 COMMENT : PAKISTAN’S ARMY ‘SELECTS’ WHOM TO ELECT

18 COMMENT : TALIBAN-PAKISTAN NEXUS AN OBSTACLE TO AFGHAN PEACE

19 INDIA - CHINA: HUAWEI AND THE GREAT DIGITAL BATTLE

PAK CRACKDOWN ON

MUMBAI MASTERMIND HAFIZ

SAEED COSMETIC - INDIA

Under pressure for the US and
the FATF (Financial Action Task
Force), Pakistani authorities last week
booked Mumbai attacks mastermind
and JuD (Jamat-ud-Dawah) chief
Hafi z Saeed, and 12 of his close aides
for committing multiple offences
of terrorism fi nancing and money
laundering. Subsequently, the Counter
Terrorism Department (CTD) of
Punjab Police said they will be arrested
“very soon”.

Th e FATF had warned Islamabad
to meet its commitment by another
deadline of October or face action,
which could possibly lead to the
country’s blacklisting.

The Paris-based global body is
working to curb terrorism fi nancing
and money laundering and has asked
Pakistan to reassess the operation of
banned terrorist outfi ts in the country.
In June last year, the FATF placed
Pakistan on the grey list of countries
whose domestic laws are considered
weak to tackle the challenges of
money laundering and terrorism
fi nancing.

Th e CTD further said large scale
investigations were also launched
into fi nancing matters of proscribed
organisations JuD and Lahkar-e-Taiba
(LeT). Hafi z Saeed-led JuD is believed
to be the front organisation for the
Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible

for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai

attacks. Th e US declared the LeT as a

foreign terrorist organisation in June

2014.

Reacting to the above developments,

India Thursday termed Pakistan’s

claims of crackdown on Mumbai

attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed as

a “cosmetic step”. Raveesh Kumar,

spokesperson of the external aff airs

ministry said “Let us not get fooled by

such cosmetic steps. Pakistan’s sincerity

to take action against terrorists and

terror groups will be judged on the

basis of their ability to demonstrate

verifiable, credible and irreversible

action against terror groups operating

from their soil.”

PAKISTAN’S SINCERITY IN

TACKLING TERRORISM IN

DOUBT

Th e Asian Age writes that “Pakistan

has fast-tracked the purported

crackdown also with an eye on PM

Imran Khan’s upcoming meeting with

the US President. Th e neighbour has

a knack for taking action — though

perfunctory at best — whenever it

is pushed to the brink. After the

Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan had

apparently turned the screws on banned

militant outfi ts. Two close relatives of

Masood Azhar, who heads the Jaish-e-

Mohammed — the terror outfi t that

promptly took responsibility for the

February 14 massacre — were among

(Jamat-ud-Dawah) chief Hafi z Saeed