US had positioned a $5 million bounty on Sajid Majeed Mir, who’s certainly one of India’s most-wanted terrorists
Sajid Majeed Mir, certainly one of India’s most needed terrorists on whom the US has positioned a bounty of $5 million for his function within the 26/11 Mumbai terror assaults, has been jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism courtroom in Pakistan, which is struggling to exit the gray checklist of the FATF.
The Counter Terrorism Division (CTD) of the Punjab Police, which frequently points convictions of the suspects in such circumstances to the media, didn’t notify Mir’s conviction.
His sentencing comes as Islamabad prepares for an on-site go to by the officers from the worldwide terror financing watchdog Monetary Motion Job Power (FATF) to confirm the implementation of Pakistan’s related anti-money laundering and terrorism-financing reforms.
“An anti-terrorism courtroom in Lahore early this month had handed down 15 and a half years jail time period to Sajid Majeed Mir, an activist of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in a terror-financing case,” a senior lawyer related to terror financing circumstances of LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leaders informed PTI on Friday.
Because it was an in-camera continuing on the jail, the media was not allowed.
The lawyer additional stated Mir has been within the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore since his arrest in April. He stated the courtroom additionally imposed a high quality of over Rs400,000 on the convict.
Pakistani authorities had prior to now claimed he had died, however Western nations remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his loss of life. This situation turned a significant sticking level in FATF’s evaluation of Pakistan’s progress on the motion plan late final yr. This was the place issues began shifting in Mir’s case resulting in his ‘arrest’, the Daybreak newspaper reported on Saturday.
His conviction and sentencing have been, subsequently, main achievements that Pakistani officers showcased of their progress report given to FATF on its motion plan through the newest plenary, the paper commented.
It certainly helped in convincing FATF members that Pakistan had completed all of the required duties, it added.
Mir, 44, is on the FBI’s checklist of most-wanted terrorists. He’s on India’s most-wanted checklist for his function within the 26/11 Mumbai assaults that left 166 folks lifeless, together with six People.
Earlier than the final assembly of the Monetary Motion Job Power (FATF), Pakistan reportedly informed the company that it had arrested and prosecuted Sajid Mir as a way to search its elimination from the worldwide anti-laundering physique’s ‘Gray checklist’.
Mir was known as the “venture supervisor” of the Mumbai assaults. Mir reportedly had visited India in 2005 utilizing a pretend passport with a pretend title.
The FBI says that “Mir is needed for his alleged involvement within the 2008 terrorist assaults in Mumbai, India.”
Starting on November 26, 2008, and persevering with by means of November 29, 2008, ten LeT attackers carried out a collection of coordinated assaults towards a number of targets in Mumbai, together with accommodations, cafes, and a practice station, killing roughly 170 folks.
“Six People have been killed through the three-day assaults. Mir allegedly served because the chief planner of the assaults, directing preparations and reconnaissance, and was one of many Pakistan-based controllers through the assaults. Moreover, Mir allegedly conspired to commit a terrorist assault towards a newspaper and its workers in Denmark between 2008 and 2009,” it stated.
“Mir was indicted within the US District Courtroom, Northern District of Illinois, Japanese Division, Chicago, Illinois, on April 21, 2011, and was charged with conspiracy to injure the property of a overseas authorities; offering materials help to terrorists; killing a citizen outdoors of the US and aiding and abetting; and bombing of locations of public use. An arrest warrant was issued on April 22, 2011,” it stated.
Mumbai terror assaults’ alleged mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has already been sentenced to 68 years imprisonment in terror financing circumstances by the Lahore anti-terrorism courtroom.
The sentence is working concurrently, which implies he won’t need to spend a few years in jail.
Mumbai assault operation commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi can also be sentenced to a number of years in jail. Each Saeed and LeT militant Abdul Rehman Makki are additionally in Kot Lapkhapt jail in Lahore.
Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has positioned a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 within the terror financing circumstances.
Saeed-led JuD is the entrance organisation for the LeT, which is answerable for finishing up the 2008 Mumbai assault.
The US Division of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specifically Designated International Terrorist.
The worldwide terror financing watchdog Monetary Motion Job Power (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Islamabad to take measures towards terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and utilizing its territory to hold out assaults in India.
The FATF had positioned Pakistan on the gray checklist in June 2018 and requested Islamabad to implement a plan of motion to curb cash laundering.
Final week, the Paris-based FATF stated Pakistan will proceed to be on the “Gray Record” of nations underneath elevated monitoring, an announcement from the Paris-based international money-laundering and terror-financing watchdog stated on Friday.
It stated Pakistan could also be faraway from the checklist after an on-site go to to confirm the implementation of its reforms on countering terror-financing mechanisms.
