Islamabad, Apr 8 : The Pakistan government is working on a draft bill to permanently ban Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud Dawa as well as other groups and individuals on the watch list of the interior ministry.
The bill will replace the presidential ordinance that banned outfits and people already on the watch list of the interior ministry.
Citing its sources in the law ministry, Dawn reported that the proposed draft bill to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 was likely to be tabled in the upcoming session of the National Assembly
The government decided to prepare a draft bill to amend the ATA as part of its damage-control campaign after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) approved a nomination proposal to place Pakistan on the international watchdog’s money-laundering and terror-financing grey list in February.
Pakistan is also preparing a consolidated database of known terrorists and terrorist organisations The presidential ordinance has already been challenged by Saeed in the Islamabad High Court. He claimed that the ordinance had been promulgated due to external pressure and is prejudicial to the sovereignty
Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.His JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. (Agencies)
