Islamabad: Fearing drone strikes from United States, Pakistan has on Friday banned the Hafiz Saeed-led Tehreek-e-Azaadi-Jammu and Kashmir.
The outfit is believed to be a proxy of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa backed by Hafiz, chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the mastermind of 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
Pakistan has put the outfit on the list of proscribed organisations, as of June 8, according to the web site of Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority. There are 64 other outfits in the list which includes Jaish-e-Mohammad, Al Qaeda, Tehreek e-Taliban and Balochistan Liberation Army among others.
However, Hafiz' Jamaat ud Dawa, though, still remains only under watch in Pakistan.
A TOI report claim that Saeed had begun moving some of JuD's India-targeted operations to the Tehreek-e-Azaad-e-Kashmir as early as January 14 after he learnt about the movement of Pakistan government.
Reuters reported 10 days ago that Trump's administration is contemplating amplified drone strikes on terror camps in Pakistan. This came before Trump and India jointly gave Islamabad the joint Indo-US statement in which they firmly asked the Islamabad to make sure that their soil is not used for any terror-related activities against neighbouring countries.
Earlier in January, Pakistan had placed Saeed under 'house arrest' and the JuD on the 'under watch' list under pressure from the United States; however India had termed the move as an 'eye wash'.
India has been urging Pakistan to instead try and bring Saeed to justice in connection with the Mumbai 26/11 attacks.
For now, Pakistan banning JuD's proxy outfit could well be seen as a response to the Donald Trump administration hinting a harder line against Islamabad.
