UNSC team to check progress of sanctions on banned organisations during Feb visit

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GEO NEWS
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ISLAMABAD: A special team of the United Nations Security Council will visit the country in February and check upon the progress made on sanctions placed on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation and other proscribed organisations, sources informed Geo News on Friday.

According to sources, Pakistani officials will apprise the visiting UN delegation of the implementation regarding the ban on the organisations.

An important session was also held at the foreign ministry under Additional Secretary (United Nations and Economic Cooperation) Tasneem Aslam.

In the meeting, officials from the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU), Federal Investigation Agency and other institutions were present and briefed the attendees.

The foreign ministry officials were briefed regarding the financial assistance to proscribed organisations, sources added.

There are 27 organisations and 35 individuals operating allegedly from Pakistan on the UN list.

It emerged on Jan 1, the Pakistani government had banned companies and individuals from making donations to JuD, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation, and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.

According to a notification issued by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), all companies have been prohibited from "donating cash to the entities and individuals listed under the UNSC sanctions committee’s consolidated list".

The UNSC sanctions list includes the names of al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, JuD, FiF, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other organisations and individuals.

Pakistan’s government detailed its plans in a secret order to various provincial and federal government departments on December 19, three officials who attended one of several high-level meeting discussing the crackdown told Reuters.

The December 19 document, which refers to “Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issues”, names only Saeed’s two charities and “actions to be taken” against them.

The December 19 document gave few details about how the state would take over Saeed’s charities, pending the plans submitted by the provincial governments. It did say it would involve government entities taking over ambulance services and accounting for other vehicles used by the charities.

It says law enforcement agencies will coordinate with Pakistan’s intelligence agencies to identify the assets of the two charities and examine how they raise money.

According to Reuters, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services. The JuD and FIF alone have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers, according to two counter-terrorism officials.