At least two seminaries and assets belonging to Hafiz Saeed’s proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity arm Falah-e-Insaniyat (FIF) have been taken over by the Pakistan government as it intensified its crackdown against several groups Wednesday.
The operation, launched by the law-enforcement agenciesunder the National Action Plan, came a day after Pakistan formally placed theproscribed organisations in the list of banned organisations, Dawn Newsreported.
The crackdown began amid tensions between India and Pakistanafter the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the February 14bombing in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The Pakistan government Tuesday arrested the brother and sonof JeM chief Masood Azhar along with 42 others affiliated with the bannedgroups.
Reports say that in Pakistan’s National Counter TerrorismAuthority list, which was updated on Tuesday, the JuD and FIF were among 70organisations proscribed by the Ministry of Interior under the Anti-TerrorismAct, 1997.
According to Dawn, major action was taken in Punjab’sChakwal and Attock districts after the additional chief secretary of the regiontold commissioners and divisional police heads to seize the assets.
Later, the seminaries of JuD situated in Chakwal—madrassaKhalid bin Waleed in the Talagang area, and madrassa Darus Salam on Chakwal’sRailway Road—along with their staff were placed at the disposal of the Punjabgovernment’s Auqaf department.
In Attock district, the management and operational controlof three properties were taken over by the district administration.
An ambulance of FIF was also taken over by the authorities.
A senior police official of Rawalpindi told Dawn that the government had not given any specific directive regarding the crackdown as actions were also being carried out by other security agencies under the NAP.