Pak's timing of declaring Hafiz Saeed a terrorist is suspicious: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday acknowledged that Pakistan's timing of declaring the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed a terrorist is "suspicious."

"He [Hafiz Saeed] is a terrorist and mastermind of Mumbai attacks, surprising that Pakistan took 10 years to find out that he is terrorist. But the timing [Pakistan declaring Hafiz Saeed a terrorist] is suspicious," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, said in a media briefing, here.

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".

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.

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.