By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistan Thursday said it will abide by the UN Security Council committee decision imposing sanctions on four members of outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), blamed for the Mumbai attacks.
A senior official of the foreign ministry said they have received information regarding sanctions on four Pakistanis including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who now heads Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JD).
“Pakistan would abide by (UN SC) committee’s decisions,” Pakistan’s UN ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon told GEO television after the committee announced its decision.
However, he said that the committee did not contact the Pakistani mission as regards imposing sanctions on three Pakistani citizens and organisations.
Haroon said that UN’s committee had reviewed many names even before he assumed ambassadorship.
Besides Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq are “subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo,” set out in Security Council resolution 1822 of 2008, said the Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was one of two senior LeT leaders Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said Wednesday were arrested in connection with the Mumbai attacks. Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, the other detainee, were allegedly key planners of the attack in which 173 people were killed.
According to Indian media, Lakhvi put together the team of gunmen that perpetrated the attack, while Shah allegedly arranged SIM cards and satellite phones used in the November 26-29 siege on India’s financial capital.
The sanctions committee also listed the numerous aliases of LeT and two entities that provide it with funds — Al Rasheed Trust and Al-Akhtar Trust International — and which are also subject to UN sanctions.
The US State Department said it was “pleased that the (UN sanctions) Committee has decided to move forward on these high-priority designations.”
“These actions will limit the ability of known terrorists to travel, acquire weapons, plan, carry out, or raise funds for new terrorist attacks.”
Meanwhile, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, in a reaction to restrictions, said that Hafiz Saeed never headed LeT and the action has been taken without any proof on mere “propaganda” by the Indian media and political leadership.
The organisations’ spokesman refused to comment on sanctions against three other persons, saying their respective organisations would be in better position to comment on the issue.