Pakistan has lifted a ban on a Sunni extremist outfit and unblocked assets of its chief, in a surprise decision hours before the country was placed on the ‘grey list’ by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for failing to curb anti-terror financing.
The National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) yesterday issued a notification to lift the ban on Ahl-e Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and unfreeze the assets of its chief Maulana Ahmed ludhianvi, the Express Tribune reported.
The notification was issued on the recommendations of the Punjab province home department, the paper said.
ludhianvi is the chief of ASWJ, a banned sectarian extremist group, formerly known as Sipah-e-Sahaba. He became the group’s chief after the killing of his predecessor Ali Sher Haidri in a 2009 ambush.
In 1990s, the Sipah-e-Sahaba was actively involved in a number of high profile attacks on scholars, mosques and gatherings of the minority Shia community. The groups was banned by the military dictator General Pervez Musharraf in 2002. The group reemerged under the name of ASWJ.