Pakistan: Authorities take control over 56 seminaries, facilities of JuD, FIF in Sindh

Karachi, Mar 07: At least 56 seminaries and facilities being run by Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation in Pakistan's southern Sindh province have been taken over by authorities since Islamabad launched a crackdown against banned outfits in the country.

The Sindh government confirmed that it has taken control over 56 facilities being run by these proscribed organisations.

"The Sindh government also decided to move against the proscribed organisations after the crackdown started by the Centre,” advisor to the Sindh Chief Minister on Information and Law, Barrister Murtaza Wahab said. The confiscation of properties of JuD and FIF comes after Pakistan formally placed them in the list of banned organisations on Tuesday.

According to Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) list, which was updated on Tuesday, the JuD and FIF were among 70 organisations proscribed by the Ministry of Interior under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

“The Federal government has declared both organisations as proscribed so we have also taken over the welfare and educational facilities being run by the two outfits in the province,” he said. He said the schools, medical facilities and seminaries being run by the JuD and FIF will now be run by the provincial government.

The advisor said the two banned outfits were running their seminaries, schools and medical units in many parts of Sindh including Karachi, Matiari, Jamshoro, Sanghar, Tando Allahyar, Badin, Naushero Feroz and Shahdadkot.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief 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. Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017. The NACTA has so far declared 70 terrorist organisations as banned and a sizeable number of these organisations are based in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Already, government has arrested at least 44 individuals of various banned groups. Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar's son and brother were among 44 members of the banned militant outfits taken into "preventive detention", Pakistan said on Tuesday, amid mounting pressure from the global community on it to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil.

The crackdown came amid tensions with India following a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 by Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

India last week handed over the dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as terrorists.

PTI