Islamabad: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Thursday convicted Jamat ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed to five-and-a-half years in jail and a fine of Rs 1.1 lakh, in a terror funding case. Saeed, the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is already in jail serving two sentences of five-and-a-half-years each, which were handed down to him in February this year. As per a report in Dawn, another JuD leader Malik Zafar Iqbal, and JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid were also awarded a similar sentences.
Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) is the front organisation of the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT). As Saeed is already serving a prison sentence, the punishment awarded to him today shall also run concurrently with punishment in the said cases. Pakistan is desperate to improve its image in the Global community, as it has been blamed repeatedly by its neighbours Afghanistan, India and Iran for supporting terrorism.
Pakistan has been in the ''grey'' list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Global watchdog against money laundering and terror financing. Pakistan also wishes to improve its image, so that it can access aid from overseas.
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