From Abid Usman
LAHORE: A Lahore Anti-Terrorism (ATC) on Friday sentenced Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, leader of proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 300,000 in a terrorism financing case.
The court also directed law enforcement agencies to arrest the co-accused in the case, Abu Anas Mohsin, due to availability of sufficient evidence against him. In a statement issued on Jan 2, officials said Lakhvi was arrested by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in an intelligence-based operation from Lahore.
The statement said he was suspected of running a medical dispensary to collect and disburse funds for financing terrorism, had been charged under relevant sections of the ATA and would be brought before an ATC in Lahore.
In its written order issued yesterday, the ATC found Lakhvi guilty under three sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, for running a dispensary in Kot Lakhpat to raise funds for financing terrorism. Lakhvi was sentenced to five year prison terms under each section, to be served concurrently, with an additional fine of Rs300,000.
The court also handed over possession of the said dispensary to the state. Lakhvi will now be sent to Central Jail, Adiala, to serve out his sentence.
As leader of the banned militant group, LeT, Lakhvi is blamed by the United States and India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
He was first arrested in 2008 but was later released on bail. India has long called on Pakistan to bring Lakhvi to trial, but Islamabad says Delhi has not provided concrete evidence to try the LeT leader.
A UN Security Council sanctions committee says Lakhvi is LeT’s chief of operations and accuses him of being involved in militant activity in a number of other regions and countries.
In July last year, the Pakistan government took JuD’s chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed into custody a couple of weeks after authorities booked him together with several other leaders of banned militant outfits for terror financing in a desperate bid to avoid being placed on a blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force.
Also, authorities have seized several religious seminaries and schools tied to these groups across the country.
Later in November, a local anti-terrorism court in Lahore convicted him in terror financing charges and sentenced him to five-and-a-half years in prison.
Islamabad has been on the global money-laundering watchdog’s radar since June 2018, when it was placed on the gray list for terror financing and money laundering risks after an assessment of the country’s financial system and security mechanism.
