Pakistan rebukes Indian claims on Lakhvi's conviction

Pakistan on Saturday categorically rejected what it termed the "malicious statement by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)" which accused Islamabad for holding "farcical" trials of UN-designated individuals to avoid blacklisting by FATF.

The reaction came after India questioned the timing of conviction a Lahore Anti-Terrorism that sentenced Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, leader of proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs300,000 in a terrorism financing case. "India has no locus standi to comment on the independent judicial mechanisms of Pakistan. In this regard the only ‘compliance’ that interests Pakistan is abiding by its own statutes and fulfilment of its international obligations," a statement issued by the Foreign Office said.

The statement said the investigations, prosecutions and subsequent convictions, through due process, were a reflection of the effectiveness of Pakistan’s legal system, which operates independent of any extraneous factors or influences. "India's assertions to link Pakistan’s due legal process with FATF are unfortunate,” the statement added."It is yet another Indian attempt to politicise FATF and use its processes against Pakistan. Pakistan reiterates its commitment to impartiality, confidentiality and technical nature of the FATF process.

"The statement pointed out that Indian insinuations against Pakistan were in fact a vain attempt to conceal its failures to bring to justice those blatantly involved in state terrorism and brutal suppression against the subjugated people of IIOJK and other minority communities. "As for the hypocritical Indian assertions regarding the ‘terror infrastructure’ and ‘individual terrorists’, irrefutable evidence has already been provided by Pakistanto the international community of the active aiding, abetting, planning, promoting, financing and execution of terrorist activities by India against Pakistan, with impunity.

"The Foreign Office said India would do well to put its own house in order and rein in its terror infrastructure that is aimed at destabilising India’s neighbouring countries in order to fulfil the extremist agenda of the RSS-BJP regime. "We also expect the UN counter-terrorism bodies to proceed on the basis of concrete evidence provided by Pakistan; urge India to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy; and play their part in securing the dismantling of the Indian terrorist infrastructure," the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, the United States welcomed the conviction of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
"We are encouraged by the recent conviction of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. However,his crimes go far beyond financing terrorism. Pakistan should further hold him accountable for his involvement in terrorist attacks, including the Mumbai attacks," the State Department said in a terse statement via its twitter handle.