Pakistan failed to prosecute terrorists, including Masood Azhar: US report

The State Department report stated that Indian security agencies are effective in disrupting terror threats and respond “in a timely manner” to the requests made by the United States.

Pakistan failed to take adequate steps to counter terrorism and prosecute terrorists including masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) founder Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) Sajid Mir, according to a new US report. It also said that Pakistan made “limited progress” in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination.

"Pakistan made limited progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to counter-terrorism, specifically in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination," the US State Department report said in its 2020 ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’.

At the same time, the US report stated that Indian security agencies are effective in disrupting terror threats and respond “in a timely manner” to the requests made by the United States for information related to terrorism investigations.

On Pakistan, the US report said that in February and again in November, a Lahore anti-terrorism court convicted LeT founder Hafiz Saeed on multiple counts of terrorism financing and sentenced him to five years and six months in prison but failed to take action against other terrorist leaders.

It then listed the terror attacks that took place in Pakistan last year, including the one in Quetta in which 15 people were killed and 18 others injured. Islamic Stae had claimed responsibility for the attack.The report said that on June 29, four Balochistan Liberation Army militants carrying guns and grenades charged the security barrier of the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi. In the ensuing gun battle, eight people were killed. On October 27, a five-kilogram IED exploded in a madrassa in Peshawar during a religious lecture in which eight people were killed and 136 others injured.

The State Department report also said that some madrassas in Pakistan continue to teach violent extremist doctrine, though it mentioned the states taken by the government there to regulate these institutions.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan-made-limited-progress-in-dismantling-terror-organisations-us-report-101639713818584.html