In a clear sign that Islamabad is shielding Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, the Pakistani government refused to grant access to the…
Hafiz Saeed (Photo: AFP)
In a clear sign that Islamabad is shielding Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, the Pakistani government refused to grant access to the terrorist to the sanctions monitoring team of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba – both designated terrorist organisations under the UN – Saeed will be visited by the UN team who will discuss “official information” from the government on implementation of sanctions imposed by the UN.
According to Pakistani daily The Nation, an official said that the UN officials, who arrive for a two-day visit on January 26, will not be allowed to access JuD or Hafiz Saeed.
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“They will not seek access to the JuD or Hafiz Saeed and if they do that, we will not allow it,” the daily quoted an official of the Pakistani foreign ministry as saying.
The UN put JuD under sanctions following the terror group’s involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. Their list also includes Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, LeT, and other organisations and individuals.
Pakistan has been defending Saeed for a long time now.
Under pressure from the United States, Islamabad was forced to put Saeed under house arrest. Yet in November 2017, Saeed was released. On 16 January, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khan Abbasi had addressed Saeed as “Saeed Sahib” and defended his release claiming that “there is no case against him”.
The US has been expressing its displeasure with Pakistan shielding, harbouring and nurturing terrorists on its soil.
In December 2017, US Vice President Mike Pence had told American troops that the days of Pakistan providing safe haven to the Taliban and other terrorist organisations “are over”.
And in his New Year’s Day tweet, US President Donald Trump wrote that the US “has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.”
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