India to ask Pak to seize assets of Dawood, Hafiz, Lakhvi

New Delhi, May 24: India is planning to ask Pakistan to seize assets of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and most wanted terrorists Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as all three are in the UNSC's al Qaeda sanctions list which makes it incumbent upon Islamabad to freeze their holdings.

The UN Security Council's al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee has listed Dawood, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Saeed and Mumbai terror attack key conspirator Lakhvi and put sanctions on them.

"As a UN member state, it is the responsibility of Pakistan to freeze their assets. We are planning to send a formal communication to Pakistan to let us know whether assets of the three terrorists were seized and if not will ask it to freeze them immediately," a government official said.

The committee, established pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 1267 (1999), is a Security Council subsidiary organ that oversees the implementation by member states of the three sanctions measures -- assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo -- imposed against targeted individuals and entities associated with al Qaeda, as designated by the Committee in its sanctions list.

India has been maintaining that 1993 Mumbai serial blasts key accused Dawood is in Pakistan, though Islamabad denies it.

Hafiz Saeed roams freely in Pakistan while Lakhvi, set free from a Rawalpindi jail last month, is currently living in the country. Dawood was put in the UNSC sanction list in 2003, Saeed in 2008 and Lakhvi in 2008. India's communication is expected to be sent through diplomatic channel.

PTI