Nearly five years after being released on bail in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi) Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested in the terrorist fund case. According to The Hindu’s report, Lakhvi’s arrest comes at a time when the Global Watchdog Action Task Force (FATF) is scheduled to meet in January and February.
In this meeting, the situation of gray-list of Pakistan is to be considered. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is accused of running a dispensary using funds collected to finance terrorism. According to the report, Lakhvi and others collected money from this dispensary and used them to finance terrorism and for personal expenses. Lakhvi is included in the UN Security Council’s list of banned terrorists.
Indian officials questioned the seriousness of the action and said that just before the FATF meetings, Pakistan arrests the routine of terrorists. In July 2019, three months before the FATF plenary session, Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed was arrested due to the decision to upgrade Pakistan to blacklist.
In its last plenary session in October 2020, the 39-member FATF decided to give Pakistan another three months to complete the action plan. Pakistan has taken action against Lakhvi for a long time, if Pakistan had taken action against Lakhvi and Azhar last year, he would have been guilty like Hafiz Saeed.
