Islamabad: On Thursday, Pakistan, which has refused to act against Jaish-e-Muhammed terror group till the time India shares ‘actionable intelligence’ with regard to the Pulwama terror attack, continued with its farce and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) group run by 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. The Pakistan government has also decided to ban JuD’s charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

It is reported that the decision was taken during a meeting of Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) which was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan. It comes in the wake of growing international pressure on Pakistan to act against terror groups following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.

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A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said in a statement: "It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations. It was further decided that Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior."

The two groups were earlier were on the watchlist of the Pakistan Interior Ministry. The JuD is a front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Toiba terror group which had carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed. The United States had labelled it as a foreign terrorist organisation in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury had also designated JuD chief Hafiz Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Saeed was also listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. Pakistan had kept Saeed under house arrest for months before he was released in November 2017.

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