KP govt seals offices of Hafiz Saeed’s JuD, FIF; seizes mosques, seminaries

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Saturday initiated a crackdown against Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its humanitarian wing, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), by seizing the organisations’ offices and taking over the latter’s operational matters.

Peshawar’s district administration, with the help of police and other law enforcement agencies, had initiated action against the JuD in the provincial capital after receiving directions from the federal government.

“We have sealed the offices of the foundation, seized three religious schools and two mosques and handed over the seized properties to the Auqaf department to look after operational matters,” a senior official said.

The move came after the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued a notification asking citizens to not donate to organisations listed on a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) list of proscribed organisations.

The UNSC sanctions list includes al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, JuD, FiF and other organizations.

After JuD and FiF were placed on the UNSC list, the interior ministry had written to the provinces asking them to take action.

Malik Nadeem Awan, a central leader of JuD said that after the Punjab government, the KP government had sealed and seizes the offices and ambulances of FiF in different districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“A health facility in Balakot and office in Abbottabad has been sealed and ambulances have been seized and parked in police stations,” he said.

Hafiz Saeed, who in November last year was set free from a 300-day-long house arrest, has been repeatedly accused by the US and India of masterminding the 2008 attacks on the Indian financial capital that killed 166 people.

Saeed was declared a global terrorist by the US and UN over his alleged role in the Mumbai attacks. JuD is considered by the US and India to be a front for LeT, the militant group blamed for the attacks.