India terms action against Lakhvi a farce

Hours after a Pakistan court convicted Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zaki Ur Rahman Lakhvi in a terror financing case, sentencing him to three five-year prison sentences, India called the process “farcical”, and accused Pakistan of carrying out quick prosecutions of various UN sanctioned terrorist leaders to avoid punitive action at the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meetings, where it has been greylisted.

“UN proscribed entities and designated terrorists act as proxies for Pakistani establishment to fulfil its anti-India agenda. It is for the international community to hold Pakistan to account and ensure that it takes credible action against terror groups, terror infrastructure and individual terrorists,” said MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.

“The timing of these actions clearly suggests the intention of conveying a sense of compliance ahead of the APJG (Asia Pacific Joint Group) meeting and next FATF plenary meeting in February 2021. It has become routine for Pakistan to come up with such farcical actions prior to important meetings,” he added in response to a question from The Hindu on a spate of action from Pakistan.

In December 2020, LeT chief Hafiz Saeed was given a second conviction on terror charges in cases involving terror financing. Lakhvi, who had been arrested on January 2 this year, five years after he was given bail in the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks case in Pakistan, was also charged with terror financing.

On Friday, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore, convicted Lakhvi for five years each in three cases, to be served concurrently. Meanwhile, on Thursday

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