JuD leader convicted in terror financing case

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) Tuesday convicted a leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) in a case of terror financing and terrorism. The ATC judge awarded 15 years and six months jail term to Malik Zafar Iqbal in a case [FIR No 21/19], registered against him by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). As per details, on July 3, 2019, the top 13 leaders of the JuD were booked in more than two dozen cases for terror-financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997. The Counterterrorism Department (CTD), which registered the cases in five cities of Punjab, declared that the JuD was financing terrorism from the massive funds, collected through non-profit organisations and trusts including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust, etc.

The CTD, during investigation, found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership, accused of financing terrorism by building huge assets and properties from the collected funds in Pakistan. These non-profit organisations were banned in April 2019.

Later, on July 17, Hafiz Saeed was arrested from Gujranwala on charges of terror financing by the Punjab CTD. Besides, the top JuD leaders, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Ameer Hamza, Mohammad Yahya Aziz, Mohammad Naeem, Mohsin Bilal, Abdul Raqeeb, Dr Ahmad Daud, Dr Muhammad Ayub, Abdullah Ubaid, Mohammad Ali and Abdul Ghaffar were booked.

However, the counsel for the JuD leaders said the cases against his clients had been made on the basis of a link to defunct Al-Anfaal Trust, which was formed to construct mosques in the country.