Pakistan to freeze assets of UN-sanctioned armed groups

Islamabad, Pakistan - The government of Pakistan has passed a regulation authorising the seizure of assets of armed groups that have been sanctioned by the United Nations and also enlisted under Pakistani domestic anti-terrorism laws.

"The objective of the UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order 2019 is to streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities," said Pakistan's foreign ministry in a statement released on Monday.

The move follows an attack on an security forces convoy in Pulawama last month, that killed at least 42 people and also sparked a crisis that saw Indian and Pakistani jets bomb each others' territory, with at least one Indian aircraft shot down and its pilot captured.

The pilot was later returned to India on Friday, with Pakistan hoping it would defuse the crisis to a degree.

The Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) group claimed responsibility for the attack and a top Indian general accused Pakistani intelligence services of "controlling" the attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based armed group that targets Indian security forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir and elsewhere, was banned as a "terrorist" organisation under Pakistani law in 2002.  

The UN said JeM has coordinated with the Afghan Taliban to target members of the US-led NATO military coalition in neighbouring Afghanistan, as well as with al-Qaeda.

"JeM has several hundred armed supporters located in [Pakistan-administered Kashmir], and in India's southern [Indian-administered] Kashmir and Doda regions," reads a UN summary of why the group was sanctioned in 2001.

"Supporters are mostly from Pakistan and Kashmir, but also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war … JeM is based in Peshawar and Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, but members conduct terrorist activities primarily in Kashmir."

Its chief, Masood Azhar, is not subject to UN sanctions, but appears on a Pakistani government list of "proscribed individuals".

Other armed groups subject to the new measure include Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and its charitable arms Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Filah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF).