In another attempt to avoid itself from getting blacklisted by global financial watchdog the Finance Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan has claimed to have jailed three leaders of Jamat-Ud-Dawa. A court in Pakistan sentenced these three terrorists for financing the 2008 Mumbai attacks. India and the United States of America have listed Jamat-Ud-Dawa for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
Currently, Pakistan is in the grey list of curbs under FATF. It was warned earlier to take action against homegrown terror outfits financing for which September 2020 deadline was given.
Inclusion in the blacklist of FATF means that Pakistan is shunned by international financial institutions. Pakistan has been found guilty of providing safe heaven for not only those who fund terror activities but also gives them secured training grounds. These terror outfits launch attack with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI over India.
The watchdog has called for Pakistan to prosecute those funding terrorism, as well as to enact laws to help track and stop terror financing.
Malik Zafar Iqbal and Abdul Salam were each handed 16-1/2 year total sentences on four charges, to be served concurrently, while a third man, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, got 1-1/2 years on one charge, according to a court judgment seen by Reuters.
The men were associates of Hafiz Saeed, who was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison in February. All the sentences are concurrent so Saeed, Iqbal, and Salam will serve five years.
Hafiz Saeed founded and led Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of the Pure which killed 160 people, including Americans and other foreigners.
Saeed and his associates also face a further slew of cases for financing militant activities, while Iqbal and Makki have already been convicted in several cases.
Pakistan facilitates Hafiz Saeed's network to work undercover of 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house, and ambulance services. Hafiz Saeed gets Jamat-Ud-Dawa funds the militant wing LeT.
A 2011 U.S. sanctions designation describes Iqbal as a co-founder of LeT and in charge of its financing activities. Salam is described as the interim leader of the group during the brief periods when Saeed was arrested in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, and running its network.
