New Delhi: In a significant development, the United Nations (UN) has rejected an appeal of Jammat-Ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, to remove his name from its list of banned terrorists, government sources said Thursday.
Notably, the decision comes at a time when UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee has received a new request to ban Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. JeM has claimed responsibility for the strike.
The UN decision to reject appeal of Saeed, also a co-founder of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), came after India provided detailed evidence including ‘highly confidential information’ about his activities, sources told this agency, adding that the verdict of the global body was conveyed to his lawyer Haider Rasul Mirza earlier this week.
Saeed, chief of the UN-designated terrorist organisation Jammat–ud-Dawa (JuD), was banned December 10, 2008 by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) after the horrific Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.
Saeed had filed an appeal with the UN through Lahore-based law firm Mirza and Mirza in 2017, while he was still under house arrest in Pakistan, for removal of the ban.
Independent Ombudsperson Daniel Kipfer Fasciati, appointed by the UN to examine all such requests, has informed Saeed’s lawyer about UN’s decision.
The Ombudsperson recommended that after gathering all information, it has been decided to continue with the ban as ‘there was sufficient information to provide a reasonable and credible basis for continuing the listing’, sources said, adding the recommendation was endorsed by the UN’s Sanctions Committee.
The 1267 Committee measures include three major areas of sanctions – assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo, which need to be mandatorily applied by all UN member states.
Pointers
JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was banned December 10, 2008 after the Mumbai terror attacks
Saeed had appealed to the UN in 2017 to remove the ban
Saeed is also a co-founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit
