Pakistan government trying to please America, India: Hafiz Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks Hafiz Saeed on Thursday said that he would challenge the Pakistan government's decision of a crackdown on his two charities, adding that the government was trying to please America and India by "taking extreme action against us".

"After detaining me for 10 months without any legal ground, the government has now issued a notification regarding taking over our schools, dispensaries, ambulances and other assets. It will hamper our relief operations in Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Azad Kashmir and northern areas," Moneycontrol quoted Saeed as saying.

Pakistan on Wednesday banned two charities linked to Hafiz Saeed.

Pakistan's interior ministry issued a notification against the Saeed-founded Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) charity, as well as its associated organisation, the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), Al Jazeera reported.

"As per the instructions, we have already started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries which belong to the JuD and FIF," Al Jazeera quoted Rana Sanaullah, law minister for Punjab province, as saying.

Saeed, who is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was designated a "terrorist" by the United Nations (UN) and had a USD 10 million-bounty placed on him by the United States in 2012.

Pakistan banned the LeT but allowed its charity wings to continue operating. That included 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services.

This move by the Pakistan government comes days before a key meeting by the Financial Action Task Force, a global money-laundering watchdog, which is due to consider a US-sponsored motion to place Pakistan on a list of countries failing to prevent "terrorism" financing.