After US pressure, Pakistan bans terror groups Jamaat-ud Dawa, Haqqani network

Islamabad: Pakistan has banned the Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and the Haqqani network after the US insisted it do so, a media report said Thursday.

“The US has sought a ban on the Haqqani network and the Jamaat-ud Dawa but the matter was being delayed,” Dawn online quoted an interior ministry official as saying

The Pakistani government took action against militant organisations without making a distinction between the good Taliban and the bad Taliban after the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar Dec 16 by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the report said.

Apart from Haqqani network and JuD, the ministry has also banned Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, Harkat-ul-Mujahi­deen, Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, Ummah Tameer-i-Nau, Haji Khairullah Hajji Sattar Money Exchange, Rahat Limited, Roshan Money Exchange, Al Akhtar Trust, Al Rashid Trust.

The official said the government had already directed the departments concerned to take immediate steps to freeze the assets of the banned outfits.

The Haqqani Network, founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, has been blamed for some of the most heinous attacks on the US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan. It was designated as a terrorist organisation by the US in September 2012.

The US and India have both always considered JuD, run by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a sister organisation of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant outfit blamed for masterminding the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.

IANS