For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
Oneindia App Download

Hafiz Saeed continued to draw pension of Rs 47,500 per month even after founding Lashkar

|
Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Sep 28: Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief, Hafiz Saeed had completed pensionable service of 25 years upon his retirement in 1999. He was drawing a pension of Rs 45,700 through his bank account, Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations had written to the UNSC panel.

Hafiz Saeed had requested for the release of frozen funds and Pakistan in a letter to the UNSC had backed it. Saeed according to the letter retired from the Lahore University of Engineering and Technology in 1999. He continued to draw a pension even after founding the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. It was only after the UNSC designated him as a global terrorist in 2008 that his bank accounts were frozen.

File photo of Hafiz Saeed

His pension is being funded by the Pakistan government and it owned him Rs 11 lakh as the same could not be deposited in his account on account of the same being frozen.

Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

<strong>Pak pleads UNSC with a request to release Hafiz Saeed's 'living expenses'</strong>Pak pleads UNSC with a request to release Hafiz Saeed's 'living expenses'

He was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. According to UN provisions, all states are required to freeze the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals.

The resolution also provides for states to sanction basic expenses of the designated individuals if there is no-objection over it.

The 1267 Committee, which deals with terror groups like the Islamic State, the al-Qaeda and associated individuals and organisations, said that it approved Pakistan's request after no objections were placed before it by the set deadline of August 15, 2019.

"The Chair has the honour to refer to his draft letter to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan communicating the Committee's decision with respect to the intention of the Pakistani authorities to authorise certain expenditures to the benefit of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Zafar Iqbal, to cover basic expenses as specified in the note verbale of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan pursuant to paragraph 81 (a) of resolution 2368 (2017)," said a note issued by the committee.

"The Chair wishes to inform the members that no objections were placed by the set deadline of 15 August 2019 for the consideration of the draft letter. Consequently, the letter is approved and the Chair will instruct the Secretariat to dispatch it," the note added.

In Islamabad, Pakistan's Foreign Office on Thursday said the household expenditure exemption by the UNSC to Saeed was in line with the procedure of the world body.

"Such an exemption was in line with the established procedures and practices of the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee," the Foreign Office said.

It said that Saeed and others had submitted an exemption request for basic expenditure to the UNSC. The request was later approved by the Council as a matter of routine, it said.

<strong>Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF</strong>Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF

The Foreign Office said that "a certain section of Indian media was unnecessarily politicising this issue to cast negative aspersions on Pakistan's efforts to implement its obligations under the UN sanctions regimes." Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, was arrested on July 17 this year in a terror-financing case in Pakistan. He is lodged at the Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail in high security.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X