"Great pressure" exerted to find Hafiz Saeed: Trump on JuD chief's arrest

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that "great pressure" was exerted over the past two years to find the Jamaat ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed. Trump made the statement hours after Saeed was arrested on charges terror financing in Pakistan.

"After a ten-year search, the so-called "mastermind" of the Mumbai terror attacks has been arrested in Pakistan. Great pressure has been exerted over the last two years to find him!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

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Trump's remarks on Saeed's arrest came ahead of the maiden visit of Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan to the US. The meeting would focus on improving bilateral ties between the two countries.

Saeed was arrested on Wednesday while he was on his way to an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Gujranwala to seek bail.

The development has come just two days after an anti-terrorism court in Lahore had granted interim bail to Saeed and three of his aides until August 31 against surety bonds of PKR 50,000 each.

On July 3, the top 13 leaders of the banned JuD, including Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The Pakistan Counter-Terrorism Department, which registered the cases in five cities of Punjab, had stated that JuD was involved in terror funding collected through charitable orgsations including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, and Muaz Bin Jabal Trust.

In February, Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had warned Pakistan to deliver on its commitment to curb terror financing and money laundering.

Pakistan may be blacklisted by the watchdog as it is already on the "grey list" of countries who have been inadequate in curbing money laundering and terror financing.

In the wake of previous warnings by the FATF, Pakistan had re-instated a ban on two terror outfits linked to Saeed, namely, JuD and the Falah-e-Insat Foundation in February.

The move had come amid global pressure against Pakistan to clamp down on terror groups following the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) initiated terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 paramilitary forces in February this year.

India has time and again called for creating trust and environment free of violence and terrorism for fostering peace and prosperity in the region.

( With inputs from ANI )