India slams Pakistan for its u-turn on Dawood Ibrahim, says it never takes action against terror entities

SOURCE: TIMES NOW

The ministry of external affairs on Thursday slammed Pakistan for stepping back on its acknowledgement of the presence of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim on its soil. The MEA accused Islamabad of never taking credible, verifiable action against terror entities or listed individuals, including the most wanted ones.

MEA’s reaction comes days after Pakistan on August 23 said that media reports which claimed that Islamabad admitted to the presence of certain listed individuals on its territory, based on the information contained in the SRO, are baseless and misleading.

In an attempt to escape blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan had on August 18 confirmed putting Dawood Ibrahim’s name in the new terror sanctions list. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) which figured Ibrahim’s name along with 88 others. Besides, Dawood, 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar were also included on its new sanctions list.

Addressing a press conference, the MEA said, “This subsequent denial by Pakistan’s foreign office, calls into question their intentions and it would not mislead the world community in believing in its propaganda. Pakistan must take credible action and ensure that listed individuals are prosecuted.” 

“Pakistan hasn’t only maintained its opposition to this international consensus but has also chosen not to act against these international terrorists. Pakistan has never taken any credible and verifiable action against terror entities or listed individuals, including most wanted ones,” the MEA stated.

“Pakistan’s assertion in Statutory Regulatory Order doesn’t mean it admits to presence of listed individuals or that it will impose measures on them. It bares their insincerity in responding to world’s expectations that they’ll track international terrorists in Pakistan, the MEA said.

The Underworld don is India’s most wanted terrorist after the 1993 Mumbai bombings. The US declared Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2003. It has been long reported that Islamabad had given shelter to the Mumbai blast mastermind and at present residing in Karachi.

Pakistan is desperately trying to move from the FATF’s grey list to the white list. The Paris-based FATF had placed Islamabad on the grey list in June 2018.

The FATF was formed in 1989 and at present has 39 members with European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council being a part of it. It was firmed to combat money laundering, terrorist financing.

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