Move comes as federal govt begins implementing UN resolution that blacklisted Hafiz Saeed's JuD as terror outfit. PHOTO: File
Talking to The Express Tribune a police official of the local West Cantt police station said they had received a letter from the federal government asking them to seal all the offices, seminaries as well as charities and dispensaries of the JuD.
“We along with the authorities followed the instructions,” he said, adding that the crackdown against the JuD was under way on a large scale across the province.
SP Cantt Wasim Riaz also confirmed that the police had been instructed to seal the JuD offices. “We therefore sealed the main office of the organisation located at Chowk Fowara in Peshawar’s Saddar area but did not touch the adjoining mosque,” he added.
Another high-ranking police officer said that about 10 offices and facilities were closed down on Saturday.
A resident told The Express Tribune that the authorities and the police had already sealed the headoffice of the outfit in Saddar a week ago.
“All the staff and office-bearers have gone to Lahore leaving behind just one guard,” he said, adding that the Saddar office was established in 1990s and soon a mosque was also established in front of it.
Earlier, the offices of the same outfit were sealed in DI Khan.
Interior Ministry releases list of blacklisted organisations, includes JuD
No JuD official was available for comments on the matter. However, there are reports that the outfit will soon stage a protest rally at Chowk Fowara against the crackdown.
In February, President Mamnoon Hussain had signed an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 with the aim to tighten the noose around individuals and organisations banned by the UN Security Council.
FATF grey list: 148 properties of JuD, FIF confiscated in Punjab
The move was apparently aimed at proscribing the JuD and its charity arm, the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris which decided to put Pakistan on the anti-terror financing organisation’s grey list from June this year.
After promulgation of the ordinance, all properties of the FIF were confiscated in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Some 148 properties and assets of the outfits were also seized in Punjab.On the other hand, ANP provincial general secretary Hussain Babrak said the party had never held any internal consultations over the movement. “Neither has the ANP received any communication from the PTM,” he said.
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