New Delhi (NVI): India has slammed Pakistan on its timing to put behind bars terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying that it has become routine for Islamabad to come up with such “farcical actions” prior to important meetings.
“The timing of these actions clearly suggests the intention of conveying a sense of compliance ahead of the APJG meeting and next FATF plenary meeting in February 2021,” MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastava said while addressing the weekly press briefing here.
The MEA’s reaction came hours after reports that 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind and LeT top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Pakistani court on terror financing charges.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba’s current supreme commander of operations was arrested on Saturday by Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on charges of terror financing.
“UN proscribed entities and designated terrorists act as proxies for Pakistani establishment to fulfill its anti-India agenda. It is for the international community to hold Pakistan to account and ensure that it takes credible action against terror groups, terror infrastructure and individual terrorists,” Srivastava added.
Yesterday, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan’s Gujranwala area had issued an arrest warrant for proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar on the charges of terror financing.
The court issued the warrant against Azhar during a hearing in a terror-financing case instituted by the Counter Terrorism Department of Punjab police against some members of the JeM.
Notably, The Lashkar-e-Taiba, led by Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, is seen as responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
-ARK
