Pakistan has banned terrorist Hafiz Saeed-backed outfit Tehreek-eAzadi-Jammu & Kashmir, a group that is essentially a rebranded Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which in turn was the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Pakistan has now put this JuD proxy on the list of proscribed organisations, as of June 8, according to the web site of Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority. JuD, though, still remains only 'under watch'.
In late January, Pakistan put Saeed under 'house arrest' and the JuD on the 'under watch' list. Pakistan banning JuD's proxy outfit could well be seen as a response to the Donald Trump administration hinting a harder line against Islamabad. It was reported 10 days ago that Trump's administration is contemplating amplified drone strikes on terror camps in Pakistan. This was even before the stern talking-to Trump and India jointly gave Islamabad this week via the Indo-US joint statement.
The banning also comes ahead of the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) scheduled to update its assessment of "high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions'' next month. FATF was set up to implement legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats.
Earlier this month, there were reports that Pakistan recently froze the accounts of as many as 5,000 suspected militants , ahead of the FATF updating its list. And TOI reported in February that it was the threat of international sanctions by the US, under FATF, that prompted action by Pakistan against Saeed. A senior US government official reportedly conveyed to Pakistan it would be put on the FATF's blacklist if Islamabad did not take action against JuD and other similar outfits and their funding mechanisms.