As a United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) sanctions monitoring team is set to visit Pakistan in the last week of January for an assessment of Islamabad’s compliance with the world body’s sanctions regime, the country has denied direct access to Hafiz Saeed or his entities to the sanctions monitoring team, the Times of India reported, sourcing The Nation.
Amid mounting global pressure on Pakistan to act against Saeed and entities linked to him, a UNSC team will visit the country in the last week of January.
Saeed was put under the sanctions by the United Nations (UN) in December 2008 along with his organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Saeed had petitioned the UN in last November seeking for a removal of his name from their list of sanctioned terrorists which they refused to do.
Also Read: Hafiz Saeed Should be Prosecuted to Full Extent of Law: US To Pak
The two-day visit of the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team will begin on Thursday, 25 January.
“The monitoring team of the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee will be here on 25 and 26 January,” a senior Pakistani official was quoted as saying by Dawn.
However, Pakistani officials insist that the trip is a routine visit.
Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
On Friday, the US State Department said it has told clearly to Islamabad that Saeed is a “terrorist” and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, reacting strongly to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s remarks that there was no case against the Mumbai attack mastermind.
Also Read: No Case Against Hafiz Saeed Here: Pakistan PM Shahid Abbasi
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said:
He is listed by the UNSC 1267, the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee for targeted sanctions due to his affiliation with Lashkar-e- Taiba, which is a designated foreign terror organisation. We believe that he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
He is listed by the UNSC 1267, the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee for targeted sanctions due to his affiliation with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is a designated foreign terror organisation. We believe that he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Saeed, the chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November.
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 terms of reference of the monitoring team for Pakistan visit are not publicly known, but as per its general mandate it assists the 1267 Committee in keeping an eye on the freezing of the financial assets of listed persons and entities and checking provision of training and other material to them and their travel,” the paper said.
The UNSC monitoring team intimates instances of non-compliance to the committee through its reports. At the same time it also advises and assists member states on implementation of the regime.
Pakistan has remained under the Financial Action Task Force scanner over allegations by the US and India about the UNSC sanctions not being fully implemented, the paper said.
The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.
The Quint
