Indictment postponed for alleged Mumbai attacks' mastermind

Chief of the proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization Hafiz Saeed is taken to an Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore on Dec. 7, 2019. (Supplied)

• JUD chief's indictment on terror financing charges will now take place on Dec. 11
• Pakistan is striving to convince FATF it is doing its best to curb illicit financial flows

LAHORE: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday could not indict Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of the proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization, since one of his co-accused, Hafiz Zafar Iqbal, could not be brought before the judge by the authorities.
Saeed’s indictment on terror financing charges was expected on December 7, but the court adjourned the case against him after instructing the authorities to produce all accused individuals on the next hearing.
“Hafiz Saeed was produced before the court but the proceedings were adjourned till December 11,” his lawyer, Imran Fazal Gill, told Arab News. “The prosecution had not attached scrutiny report with the challan. The co-accused, Hafiz Zafar Iqbal, could not be produced in the court since he had to attend the proceedings of another case in Gujranwala. That deferred the indictment process.
Saeed was brought to the court amidt high security from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. It is worth mentioning that the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police has registered 23 complaints against the JuD chief and his accomplices on terror financing charges in various cities of the province.
According to the authorities, Saeed collected funds using various trusts and non-profit organizations to finance terrorism. Under pressure from the international community, Pakistan has been probing JuD and its affiliate organizations.
Saeed is accused of being the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed about 160 lives in India’s commercial capital. The United Nations Security Council, through a resolution, put sanctions on his organization and declared its office bearers as terrorists.
Implementing the UN resolution, Prime Minister Imran Khan recently directed the authorities to implement the National Action Plan while chairing the National Security Committee’s meeting. Subsequently, investigations were launched against Saeed and his fellows.
The government also took over the religious seminaries and schools run by the trusts operated by Saeed and the JuD.
Pakistan is striving to come out of the FATF grey list and has told the global watchdog that it is doing everything to curb money laundering and terror financing.