Pakistan imposes more restrictions on 88 Taliban leaders and groups

Tariq Butt / Associated Press

Pakistan issued sweeping financial sanctions against Afghanistan’s Taliban, just as the militant group is in the midst of US-led peace process in the neighboring country.

The federal government has imposed new restrictions on 88 leaders and members of terrorist groups in compliance with the new list, issued by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently.

The government issued two notifications, announcing sanctions on key figures of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Taliban, Daesh, Haqqani Group, Al Qaeda, and others.

The orders, which were made public late on Friday, identified dozens of individuals, including the Taliban’s chief peace negotiator Abdul Ghani Baradar and several members of the Haqqani family, including Sirajuddin, the current head of the Haqqani network and deputy head of the Taliban.

The list of sanctioned groups included others besides the Taliban and were in keeping with a five-year-old United Nations resolution sanctioning the Afghan group and freezing their assets.

The orders were issued as part of Pakistan's efforts to avoid being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and tracks terrorist groups' activities, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The notifications order seizure of all movable and immoveable properties of these outfits and individuals, and freezing of their bank accounts. These terrorists have been barred from transferring money through financial institutions, purchasing arms and travelling abroad, etc.

The notifications ratified a complete ban on all leaders and members of defunct Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hiding in the Pak-Afghan border areas. Hafiz Saeed Ahmad of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Mohammad Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Mullah Fazlullah (alias Mullah Radio), Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Hakeem Murad, wanted by Interpol, Noor Wali Mehsud, Fazal Raheem Shah of Uzbekistan Liberation Movement, Taliban leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani, Khalil Ahmad Haqqani, Yahya Haqqani and Dawood Ibrahim of Indian state of Maharashtra and his associates were on the list.

The notifications said that leadership of the defunct TTP, and other organisations including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tariq Geedar group of TTP, Harkatul Mujahedin, Al Rasheed Trust, Al Akhtar Trust, Tanzim Jaish-al Mohajireen Ansar, Jamaat-ul Ahrar, Tanzim Khutba Imam Bukhari, Rabita Trust Lahore, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society of Pakistan, Al-Harmain Foundation Islamabad, Harkat Jihad Al Islami, Islami Jihad Group, Uzbekistan Islami Tehrik, Daesh of Iraq, Emirates of Tanzim Qafqaz working against Russia, and Abdul HaqUyghurs of Islamic Freedom Movement of China have been banned. The Pakistan government has also ratified the ban on these terror outfits and individuals.

Last year the Paris-based group put Islamabad on a grey list. Until now only Iran and North Korea are blacklisted, which severely restricts a country's international borrowing capabilities. Pakistan is trying to get off the grey list, said the officials.

There was no immediate response from the Taliban, but many of the group's leaders are known to own businesses and property in Pakistan.

Pakistan has denied giving sanctuary to the Taliban following their ouster in 2001 by the US-led coalition but both Washington and Kabul routinely accused Islamabad of giving them a safe haven.