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India-Pakistan

Terror financing and terrorism: ATC awards jail term to four JD leaders

2020-06-19

[The News (Pak)] An anti-terrorism court on Thursday convicted four leaders of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD) over charges of terror financing and terrorism. ATC judge Ejaz Ahmad Butter awarded jail terms to Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Aziz and Abdul Islam all members of Tanzeem al-Anfaal Trust which is a subsidiary organization of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... The court awarded five years jail term each to Malik Zafar Iqbal and Muhammad Yahya Aziz along with imposition of a fine of Rs 50,000. In case of default in payment of fine, the convicts will face a further six months jail. Zafar and Yahya have been convicted under Section 11-N read with 11-1 (2) (b) Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 (money laundering, illegal fundraising and buying properties from raised funds). Malik Zafar Iqbal was the secretary of the al-Anfaal Trust, also run by the JuD. The prosecution team led by Deputy Prosecutor General Abdul Rauf Wattoo proved its case before the court that the Madrasa Sattaria property in discussion was in use of the convicts, which is a reasonable cause to suspect that it was used for terror financing or terrorism. It is penitent to mention here that the court in its order stated that the sentence awarded to Malik Zafar Iqbal shall run concurrently with his previous sentence. Previously, Zafar was convicted for five and half years along with JD Chief Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go.... The court has awarded one year jail term each to Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki and Abdul Islam along with imposition of a fine of Rs 20,000 each. In case of default in payment of fine, the convicts will face a further jail term of 10 days. Both have been convicted as the prosecution proved that they abetted in obtaining the property known as Madrasa Sattaria. Deputy Prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo while talking to The News said that the convicts were active members of the banned al-Anfaal Trust from 2001 to 2018 and the prosecution proved its case. Elaborating the case, Rauf stated that any banned outfit cannot purchase, construct and run any piece of land. If it does so, it comes under the definition of terror financing and terrorism. The court while hearing the case on a daily basis concluded the trial in just nine days, Rauf added.

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India-Pakistan

US offers new $5 million reward for capture of Mumbai attackers

2018-11-26

[IsraelTimes] Ten years after deadly assault left 166 dead, including several Israelis at Chabad house, secretary of state urges Pakistain to bring planners to justice US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday urged Pakistain to take action against those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks as Washington offered a new reward of $5 million for helping secure their capture. The announcement came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the assault, which left 166 people dead and hundreds injured after Islamist murderous Moslems from Pakistain unleashed a wave of violence across India’s financial capital lasting three days. "It is an affront to the families of the victims that, after 10 years, those who planned the Mumbai attack have still not been convicted for their involvement," Pompeo said in a statement. "We call upon all countries, particularly Pakistain, to uphold their UN Security Council obligations to implement sanctions against the hard boyz responsible for this atrocity, including Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... and its affiliates." "We stand with the families and friends of the victims, whose loved ones were lost in this act of barbarism, including six American citizens," he added. Also among those killed were a number of Israelis during an assault and standoff at a Mumbai Chabad house. The Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program meanwhile said it was offering up to $5 million "for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual who committed, conspired to commit, or aided or abetted" the execution of the attack. It is the third such reward offered by the US after the State Department announced bounties of $10 million for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and $2 million for Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, another big shot of the group. Saeed, who is also designated a terrorist by the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... , has denied involvement in terrorism and the Mumbai attacks. A party linked to the charitable wing of the LeT contested Pakistain’s national elections in July, failing to win any seats but winning more than 435,000 national and regional votes.

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India-Pakistan

US offers $10 million for Hafiz Saeed

2012-04-04

We could pass the plate. Hosting isn't costing the Burg that much... ISLAMABAD: The United States has offered a $10 million bounty for a Pakistani militant leader who allegedly orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai attacks and has been directing an anti-American political movement in recent months. How much for just the severed head? The reward is for “information leading to the arrest and conviction” of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who founded the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba with alleged Pakistani support in the 1980s to pressure archenemy India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. The US also offered up to $2 million for Lashkar-e-Taiba’s deputy leader, Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who is Saeed’s brother-in-law. Pakistan banned the group in 2002 under US pressure, but it operates with relative freedom under the name of its social welfare wing Jamaat-ud-Dawwa — even doing charity work using government money. The US has designated both groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Intelligence officials and terrorism experts say Lashkar-e-Taiba has expanded focus beyond India in recent years and has plotted attacks in Europe and Australia. Some have called it “the next Al-Qaeda” and fear it could set its sights on the US Saeed operates openly in Pakistan from his base in the eastern city of Lahore and travels widely, giving public speeches and appearing on TV talk shows. He has been one of the leading figures of the Difa-e-Pakistan, or Defense of Pakistan Council, which has held a series of large demonstrations in recent months against the US and India. He has rallied against any moves by the Pakistani government to reopen NATO and US supply lines into Afghanistan that were cut to protest the deadly November airstrikes. Pakistan placed Saeed under house arrest for several months after the November 2008 attacks in India’s financial capital but eventually released him after he challenged his detention in court. The government has resisted Indian demands to do more, saying it doesn’t have the necessary evidence. Saeed denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks in an interview with Al Jazeera television and said the US was just angry about his anti-American demonstrations. “We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us,” said Saeed. “I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes.” The reward for Saeed is one of the highest offered by the US and is equal to the amount for Taleban chief Mullah Omar. Only Ayman Al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama Bin Laden as Al-Qaeda chief, fetches a higher bounty at $25 million. Pakistani defense analyst Hasan Askari-Rizvi said the move against Saeed could be payback for his recent demonstrations against US drone strikes and allowing NATO supplies meant for troops in Afghanistan to travel through Pakistan. Rizvi said it would likely have little impact on Pakistan’s stance toward Saeed, both because of his historical links to the government and the political danger of being seen as doing Washington’s bidding in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant. “The government is in a difficult position,” said Rizvi. “On the one hand, they will be pressured by the US, but they are not really in a position to arrest him.” The US State Department describes Saeed as a former professor of Arabic and engineering who heads an organization “dedicated to installing Islamist rule over parts of India and Pakistan.” It also noted that six of the 166 people killed in the 2008 attacks in the Indian city were American citizens. A Pakistani-American, David Coleman Headley, pleaded guilty in a US court to helping Lashkar-e-Taiba plan the Mumbai rampage targeting a hotel and other sites. Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna welcomed the US announcement, saying it would signal to Lashkar-e-Taiba and its patrons that the international community remains united in fighting terrorism. Lashkar-e-Taiba, which means Army of the Pure, belongs to the Salafi movement, an ultraconservative branch of Islam similar to the Wahabi sect — the main Islamic branch in Saudi Arabia from which Al-Qaeda partly emerged. Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Qaeda operate separately but have been known to help each other when their paths intersect. Analysts and terrorism experts agree that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, known as the ISI, is still able to control Lashkar-e-Taiba, though the ISI denies it.

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Home Front: WoT

LeT charity designated terror group by Treasury

2010-11-25

A charitable front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and three of their senior leaders have been targeted by the Treasury Department as global terrorists. The Treasury added the Falah-i Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as a terrorist organization, and FIF leader Hafiz Abdur Rauf, Mian Abdullah and Mohammad Naushad Alam Khan, to the list of designated global terrorists. This designation allows the US to freeze their assets and prevent them from using financial institutions, and prosecute them for terrorist activities. "Few individuals are more integral to LET's fundraising than Hafiz Abdur Rauf and Mian Abdullah," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey. The designations took place twenty days after the Treasury sanctioned Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders Azam Cheema, a top commander in the planning of the Mumabi assault, and Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, a politican. Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leader, Maulana Massod Azhar, were designated as terrorist organizations at the same time. Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, designated by the US and the UN as a terrorist, remains free in Pakistan despite open support of jihad in India and Pakistan, and regardless of LeT's involvement in the Mumbai attack as well as others. Pakistani Army corps commanders openly associate with Saeed.

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