Charity linked to Hafiz Saeed's JuD not under official watch list: Aizaz Chaudhry

Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a charity linked to Hafiz Saeed's Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD), is not in a list of groups under official watch for any extremist activity, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry has said.

Chaudhry said this while addressing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday in Islamabad.

Dawn reported him saying that that the FIF was not among the organisations placed under observation.

This statement is contrary to some earlier statement of the government which said that it was under official watch, the newspaper said.

Chaudhry's remarks came after Mumbai attack mastermind Saeed challenged the Pakistan government's decision to ban media coverage of JuD and its front Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation in the Lahore High Court.

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority which comes under the Federal Information Ministry on November 2 had asked all broadcasters to refrain from covering 72 banned groups including LeT, JuD and FIF under UN restriction.

The paper reported that it was not clear if the foreign secretary's statement denoted a change in FIF's status or he simply clarified the misperception that FIF was on the watch list.

UN listed FIF as a terrorist organisation in 2012 under UNSC Resolution 1267 and 1989.

JuD is among the organisations whose activities were being onserved while LeT was a banned entity, Chaudhry said.

JuD allegedly uses FIF to raise money by selling hides of animals sacrificed during Eid.