UNSC bans Pak's Jamaat-ud-Dawa

United Nations, Dec 11 (ANI): The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has reportedly banned the political wing of the banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

The Security Council has also declared it a terrorist organization.

A committee of the UN Security Council placed financial sanctions on four members of the LeT, as well as the charitable organization that Indian and U.S. officials say serves as the Lashkar's financial front, according to the U.N.

The four members are Hafiz Saeed, the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba; Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, its chief of operations; and two finance officials, Haji Mohammad Ashraf and Mahmoud Ahmed Bahaziq.

The US Treasury Department had imposed sanctions against the same four persons in May. The UN sanctions include the mandatory freezing of assets and travel bans.

Earlier, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, had confirmed that India has approached to UN Security Council to get Jamaat-ud-Dawa banned.

He said that Pakistan is ready to ban the suspected outfit if the UN requests Islamabad to do so, adding that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa's bank accounts could also be freezed.

The Pakistan envoy's missive came as a tough-talking India urged the UN Security Council to declare the Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist outfit.

During the course of a debate at the Security Council on terrorism, India's Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed asserted without naming Pakistan that the country, from where the terrorist attack originated and was planned, should take immediate steps to stop their operations.

India and the US have said that the Lashkar-e-Toiba and its leaders are involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

India in a letter Friday had formally asked the UN Security Council to declare the Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist outfit. It also demanded that its leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed be placed under the Security Council list of global terrorists.

The November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks dominated the proceedings of this special meeting of the Security Council, wherein member nations not only condemned the heinous attack, but also underlined the need to bring those responsible for it to justice. (ANI)