Pakistan arrests 4 aides of Hafiz Saeed ahead of FATF meeting

Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested four aides of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed on Thursday, ahead of the Financial Action Task Force's crucial plenary meeting in Paris next week.

The arrested suspects were Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Aziz, Muhammad Ashraf, and Abdul Salam. The four will appear before a trial court on Friday.

Earlier, the CTD had arrested two suspected terrorists associated with a banned outfit during a raid in Gujranwala. The suspects were arrested during a raid near Alipur Chowk, according to CTD officials. The arrested terrorists were identified as Muhammad Akmal and Ghulam Hussain.

Explosive material, hate literature and cash were seized from their possession. The suspects were reportedly planning to target officers of intelligence agencies, a media report said.

Saeed was taken into custody in July and has been on judicial remand ever since.

Next week's Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting will review progress made on controlling terror financing and money laundering.

Pakistan has been included in the grey list compiled by the FATF.

A Pakistani delegation is scheduled to leave for France on October 13 as Pakistan's case will be taken up on October 14 and 15.

The upcoming review of the FATF meeting in Paris will decide the fate of the country with three possibilities -- excluding it from grey and put it in the green list, continuing it in grey list with extended period of nine to 12 months and thirdly in worst case scenario putting the country into blacklist, having dire consequences for the country's economy.