US express concern over Hafiz Saeed's public appearances

State Department issues statement, urging Pakistan to uphold international sanctions on JuD.

WASHINGTON: The US State Department has raised concerns about Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's public appearances, including at the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) rally held in Karachi earlier this week.

The State Department issued a brief press release on Thursday, In response to a question submitted earlier in the week, which said that, "Lashkar-e-Taiba and its front group Jamaatud Dawa, is internationally sanctioned because of its associations with al Qaeda.  We have and continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to uphold its obligations in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1267/1989."

The release further stated that the UN resolution "calls for all countries to freeze assets of sanctioned groups, prevent the transfer of arms to them, and prevent sanctioned individuals from entering or transiting their territories."

JuD has been functioning in the country as a religious and charity organisation. Post Mumbai attacks in 2008, the organisation was declared a terrorist organisation by the West, UN and India.

Talking to Express News, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) senior leader Liaquat Baloch said that the DPC opposed the sanctions. He said that certain organisations, which were a part of the council, had been wrongly banned by a dictator, hinting at former President Pervez Musharraf.

Baloch justified his claim by saying the if a certain exile agreement - with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - and the NRO by the same dictator had been declared illegal, why should this ban be considered valid.