Match-Fixing Or Serious Business? Pakistan ‘Bans’ UN Designated Outfits; India Feels It’s Another Sham As Usual

Facing severe global pressure post-Pulwama attacks that killed more than 40 CRPF jawans, the Pakistan government passed an order to ‘ban’ Lakshkar-e Taiba (LeT) offshoots Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), reports The Hindu.

A Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) passed on 4 March saying that “all properties owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a designated entity or designated individual” and any income from the assets including rent would be frozen or physically seized by the Pakistani authorities.

According to the reports, the Imran Khan government said it would “streamline” the banning of groups that have been listed by the UNSC and make sure that all entities banned by UNSC 1267 Committee, in particular, will have their assets frozen.

The LeT and the Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e Mohammad (JeM) are amongst the 68 organisations on the list of proscribed organisations maintained by the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NATCA) of Pakistan.

However, India said the Pakistani decision was part of a “decade-old fraud” by Islamabad, to pass SROs that are not prosecutable in courts and do not place any liability on the government authority that doesn’t implement the orders.

In February 2018, the Pakistani government had passed a similar order as a Presidential Ordinance but then allowed it to lapse six months later.

Pakistan was censured for not having aligned its legislative orders in line with the UNSC’s laws at the FATF meeting in February 2019. FATF on 22 February decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list, with the threat it could be moved to a blacklist later this year.

“The two groups were already under a watch list since January 2017. What was the announcement by Pakistan government of prescribing the two groups then? They have lied to FATF, and this will be brought to the notice of the observers,” said a senior government official was quoted as saying by The Hindu.