Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa faces police action for illegal fundraising

Islamabad: Police in Pakistan have been told to act against Hafiz Saeed’s outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa Pakistan (JuD), linked to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, for fundraising, it was reported on Friday.

The Punjab Home Department on Wednesday issued the directive to the police after becoming aware that the JuD was engaged in illegal fundraising via its charity collection wing Falah-e-Insayat Foundation (FeF). [caption id=“attachment_2047779” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed. Reuters[/caption] The JuD, headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, is accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai terror attack that killed 166 people. It is also on the UN watch list, Dawn online reported. The Home Department has demanded details of the fundraising by the JuD and other proscribed groups as fundraising is against the Pakistan law. According to the directive, JuD is making efforts to collect funds through different kinds of charity. It said its members were more active during Ramadan and distributed pamphlets, put up posters at various locations inviting people to donate charity money, Dawn online said. A senior police official said the step should have been taken earlier and that the Punjab government had been reluctant to act against religious parties without concrete reason. The JuD’s Falah-e-Insayat Foundation (FeF) has been blacklisted by the US State Department, which has described it as an “alias” of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is already on its list of “foreign terrorist organisations”.