Pak banned JuD due to India's rising diplomatic pressure: Sources

New Delhi [India], Feb 22 (ANI): Amid mounting anger over the Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan moved to ban 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) terror outfits due to India's rising diplomatic pressure, sources said here on Friday.
India said the banning of terrorist organizations is a cosmetic response which Pakistan is scrambling to put.
"On account of rising diplomatic pressure from India, Pakistan is increasingly getting isolated globally and is acting in desperation to be seen as taking action. It has moved to ban Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation yesterday for their terrorist associations," they said.
The decision to ban Saeed's JuD and FIF was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office in Islamabad on Thursday.
A government spokesperson said that it was decided to accelerate action against the two terror outfits and be notified as proscribed organisations by Pakistan's interior ministry.
Sources said that "Pakistan's scrambling to put together even this cosmetic response is evidence of a coordinated diplomatic campaign that India has undertaken."
The decision came in the wake of the terror attack in Pulwama in south Kashmir on February 14 which claimed lives of about 40 CRPF personnel and was orchestrated by Pakistan based terror outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). It was the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.
Sources said that many countries unequivocally condemned Pulwama attack with a number of them directly calling for JeM to be held accountable.
"Also, Pakistan Prime Minister (Imran Khan) convened the National Security Council yesterday in which even while disclaiming responsibility, has offered to punish anyone who was found using its territory. He also mentioned about accelerating measures to root out terrorism and extreme," they added.
"This diplomatic campaign has seen a specific thrust at the United Nations with the Security Council's condemnation of the attack where India worked behind the scenes and at the FATF where a current review of Pakistan's status as a country sponsoring and abetting terrorism is under review," sources further said.
Saeed's JuD, along with several other terror outfits such as al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, FiF, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a part of UN Security Council sanctions list.
However, after a presidential ordinance banning them under UN resolutions lapsed without further action last year, the JuD and FIF were no longer mentioned in the list of banned outfits.
India, has, time and again, protested against Pakistan for harbouring Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist, who is widely believed to have plotted the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. New Delhi's stand on Saeed has been supported by the international community.
India has strongly condemned Saeed's free movement in Pakistan and raised the matter with Islamabad several times.
Last September, while addressing a gathering at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, India's First Secretary in Permanent Mission of India to UN, Eenam Gambhir questioned the freedom experienced by Saeed in Pakistan as he continued to set up candidates for electoral office. (ANI)