Pakistan plans takeover of charities run by Islamist figure US has targeted

Pakistan's government plans to seize control of charities and financial assets linked to Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, who Washington has designated a terrorist, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters.

Pakistan's civilian government detailed its plans in a secret order to various provincial and federal government departments on 19 December, three officials who attended one of several high-level meeting discussing the crackdown told Reuters.

Marked "secret", a document dated 19 December from the Finance Ministry directed law enforcement and governments in Pakistan's five provinces to submit an action plan by 28 December for a "takeover" of Saeed's two charities, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. 

The United States has labelled JuD and FIF "terrorist fronts" for Lashkar-e-Taiba ("Army of the Pure" or LeT), a group Saeed founded in 1987 and which Washington and India blame for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks and a Pakistani court saw insufficient evidence to convict him. (Reuters)

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