Daily Times

The brother-in-law of outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed has been arrested, police confirmed on Wednesday.

Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki, also a leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has been arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Act over hate speech. According to interior ministry sources, Makki was taken into custody as part of a crackdown against the outlawed organisations, and has been shifted to a jail in Lahore. He is accused of hate speech against the crackdown besides criticising the steps taken by the government under the FATF guidelines.

Makki is head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s political and international affairs wing and also incharge of its charity Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

Widely seen as the proscribed outfit’s second-in-command, he was designated by the United States in 2010 and consequently targeted by the US Treasury Department. In 2012, the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme also announced a $2 million reward for Makki.

The JuD leader’s arrest comes days after he delivered a speech in Gujranwala criticising the government’s ongoing crackdown against the banned outfits in Pakistan. He had also previously spoken against the operation and was also encouraging people to Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

In February this year, the National Security Committee re-imposed a ban on JuD and the FIF. A few weeks later in March, the government announced the freezing of accounts and seizure of assets linked to organisations banned by the UN Security Council (UNSC). Within weeks, the government took control of 182 seminaries and detained more than 100 people as part of its push against the proscribed groups. Properties owned by JuD and FIF were also sealed or taken over across Pakistan, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. New prayer leaders and teachers were appointed by the Auqaf department to replace the ones at the mosques and seminaries run by the two banned outfits. The Punjab government took over control of the JuD and the FIF headquarters in Lahore. It also took administrative control of a madrasa and an adjacent mosque in Bahawalpur believed to be the headquarters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

Most recently, on May 11, the interior ministry banned 11 organisations under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for their alleged affiliation with proscribed outfits JuD, FIF, and JeM. A notification issued by the ministry identified the banned organisations as Al Anfal Trust (Lahore), Idara-e-Khidmat Khalaq (Lahore), Al Dawatul Irshad (Lahore), Al Hamd Trust (Lahore and Faisalabad), Al-Fazal Foundation/Trust (Lahore), Mosque and Welfare Trust (Lahore), Al Madinah Foundation (Lahore), Muaz bin Jabal Education Trust (Lahore), Al Eesar Foundation (Lahore), Al Rehmat Trust Organisation (Bahawalpur) and Al Furqan Trust (Karachi).