Not leaving its old habits, Pakistan on Sunday took a U-turn on its acknowledgement of sheltering the most wanted fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim.

The Pakistan government has released a statement on Sunday over the media reports which claimed Dawood to be sheltered in the country by terming such reports as ‘baseless and misleading’.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two consolidated SROs on 18 August, 2020, reflecting the current status of the UN Taliban and ISIL (Da’esh) and AQ Sanctions list. These lists contain names of individuals and entities designated under the two sanction regimes established pursuant to the UN Security Council resolutions. The consolidated SROs are issued periodically as a routine matter. Similar SROs have been issued, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the past, as per statutory requirements to meet our international obligations. Last such SROs were issued in 2019,” the statement read.

“The SROs issued reflect information contained in the list entry of UN designated individuals/entities. The reports in certain sections of the media about Pakistan imposing new sanctions measures, through these SROs, are not factual. Similarly, the assertions made by some sections of the Indian media, as to Pakistan admitting to the presence of certain listed individuals on its territory, based on the information contained in the SRO, are baseless and misleading,” it added.

“It is once again reiterated that the information contained in the SRO is reproduced as per the details in the list entry of the individuals/entities designated under the two sanctions regime, which is publically available, and contains names of individuals who despite their confirmed deceased status still continue to be on the sanctions list,” the statement further said.

It has released a list of 88 banned terror groups as part of its efforts to wriggle out of tough financial sanctions.

The list names Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, and Pakistan has said it has imposed tough financial sanctions on the terror groups and their leaders.

The Pakistan government has issued two notifications on August 18 announcing sanctions on key figures of terror outfits.

The list included 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Harfiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.