The US has welcomed the arrest of Mumbai assault mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in Pakistan, terming it an “important step” in holding him answerable for his position in supporting terrorism and its financing.
Lakhvi was arrested on Saturday in Pakistan on terror financing prices, amidst rising worldwide stress on Islamabad to carry to justice terrorists roaming free within the nation.
UN proscribed terrorist Lakhvi, who was on bail since 2015 within the Mumbai assault case, was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province.
“We welcome Pakistan’s arrest of terrorist leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as an important step in holding him responsible for his role in supporting terrorism and its financing,” the South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department stated in a tweet.
“We will follow his prosecution and sentencing closely and urge that he be held accountable for his involvement in the Mumbai attacks,” it stated on Tuesday.
Lakhvi was designated as a worldwide terrorist by the UN in December 2008 for being related to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and al-Qaeda and for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of” each the entities.
Last month, the UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee allowed for a month-to-month fee of Pakistani Rupees 1.5 lakh for Lakhvi to fulfill his private bills.
The LeT, led by Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, is answerable for finishing up the 2008 Mumbai assault that killed 166 folks, together with six Americans.
The international terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures towards terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and utilizing its territory to hold out assaults in India and elsewhere.
The Paris-based FATF positioned Pakistan on the Grey List in June 2018 and requested Islamabad to implement a plan of motion to curb cash laundering and terror financing by the tip of 2019 however the deadline was prolonged afterward because of COVID-19 pandemic.