ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s government plans to seize control of charities andfinancial assets linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, who Washington hasdesignated a terrorist, according to officials and documents reviewed byReuters.

Pakistan’s civilian government detailed its plans in a secret order tovarious provincial and federal government departments on Dec. 19, threeofficials who attended one of several high-level meeting discussing thecrackdown told Reuters.

Marked “secret”, a Dec. 19 document from the finance ministry directed lawenforcement and governments in Pakistan’s five provinces to submit anaction plan by Dec. 28 for a “takeover” of Saeed’s two charities,Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

The United States has labeled JuD and FIF “terrorist fronts” forLashkar-e-Taiba (“Army of the Pure” or LeT), a group Saeed founded in 1987and which Washington and India blame for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai thatkilled 166 people.

Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks and aPakistani court saw insufficient evidence to convict him. The LeT could notbe reached for comment.

The Dec. 19th document, which refers to “Financial Action Task Force (FATF)issues”, names only Saeed’s two charities and “actions to be taken” againstthem.