ISLAMABAD – United States has stepped up the pressure on Pakistan regardingterrorists sanctuaries and latest in the series is the issue of the JuDChief Hafiz Saeed who has been declared as global terrorist by the UnitedStates.
United States has started to tow the Indian line on Pakistan and Indianpressure and lobbying has been found behind the recent wave of accusationsagainst Pakistan over the issue of the Hafiz Saeed.
Now the United Nations Security Council team would be visiting Pakistan inrelations to monitor the Pakistan government efforts on curbing andcurtailing the terrorists movements and their assets inside the Pakistan.However Pakistan has prepared the strategy to deal with the UNSC team.
Pakistan will not allow the United Nations Security Council’s sanctionsmonitoring committee any direct access to Jamaatud Dawa chief HafizMuhammad Saeed or his entities this week, diplomatic sources said.
Senior officials at the foreign ministry told The Nation that the UNSCteam’s visit was not designed to ‘press Pakistan’.
The UNSC team, one official said, will visit Pakistan to discuss ‘officialinformation’ on issues relating to the banned outfits and implementation ofthe UN sanctions. “They will not seek acces to the JuD orlink>Hafiz Saeed and if they do that,we will not allow it. We have been in talks and this visit was scheduled,”he said.
Another official said the team will hold meetings with Pakistani officialson the list of the sanctioned outfits. “We have been implementing the UNsanctions, so there is no panic. We are ready to answer their questions. Wehave been preparing,” he said.
The two-day visit by the UNSC team starts on January 26. The UNSC sanctionslist includes the names of JuD, Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ,Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, Lashkar-e-Taiba and otherorganisations and individuals.
The UNSC monitoring committee oversees the sanctions measures imposed bythe Security Council under the rules. The member countries are required tofreeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economicresources of designated individuals and entities.
The members are also required to prevent the entry into or transit throughtheir territories by designated individuals. “All states are required toprevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from theirterritories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using theirflag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related material of all types, spareparts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to militaryactivities, to designated individuals and entities,” under the UN rules.
The committee, according to the UN website is mandated to “oversee theimplementation of the sanctions measures, designate individuals andentities who meet the listing criteria set out in the relevant resolutions,consider and decide upon notifications and requests for exemptions from thesanctions measures, consider and decide upon requests to remove a name fromthe Daesh and Al-Qaeda sanctions list, conduct periodic and specialisedreviews of the entries on the Daesh and Al-Qaeda sanctions list, examinethe reports presented by the monitoring team, report annually to theSecurity Council on the implementation of the sanction measures and conductoutreach activities.” The committee was initially established in pursuantto resolution 1267 (1999), which imposed a limited air embargo and assetsfreeze on the Taliban.
Last week, link>Pakistanlink> banned companies and individuals frommaking donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organizations on the UNSCsanctions list. The Securities and Exchange Commission oflink>Pakistanlink> said that all companies had beenprohibited from “donating cash to the entities and individuals listed underthe United Nations Security Council sanctions committee’s consolidatedlist.”
The UNSC team’s visit comes after the United States pressedlink>Pakistanlink> to prosecute the JuD chief “to thefullest extent of the law” as Washington regards him a “terrorist.”
Hafiz Saeed link> has been blamed formasterminding attacks in Held Kashmir and the 2008 Mumbai carnage thatkilled 166 people. The JuD chief denies the allegations saying he was onlyengaged in charity works. The White House has already warned that therewould be repercussions unless Islamabad takes action to detain and chargeSaeed.
The JuD chief was released on the order of the Lahore High Court last year.The court rejected the government’s request seeking a further extension inhis house arrest as there was not “sufficient evidence” to keep him undercustody.
The United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as aspecially designated global terrorist in May 2008. The JuD chief was alsoindividually designated a terrorist by the United Nations under UNSC R1267in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which sixAmerican citizens were killed.
link>Pakistanlink> has already told the US that it cannotact against Saeed as there was no evidence against him. Earlier, PrimeMinister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that there were no charges againstSaeed. The premier said that the US and India were free to charge Saeedinternationally if there was substance to the accusations against him.