Pakistan bans 2 groups said to fund terror
Pakistan has banned two Islamic charities accused of links with terrorist groups, officials said.
The Ministry of Interior said Sunday that authorities across Pakistan would shut down the activities of the Al Rashid Trust and the Al Akhtar Trust.
Provincial authorities should “ensure that all offices, bank accounts, projects, websites and publications of listed entities do not operate,” the ministry said in a statement.
The two charities, based in the port city of Karachi, are among a list of groups subject to United Nations sanctions as part of an effort to dry up terrorist financing to organizations that include Al Qaeda, the ministry said.
Police in Karachi closed down a total of seven offices of the two charities, said Ghulam Mohammed Mohtarem, a senior security official in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.
He said clinics, dispensaries and ambulance services run by the groups would continue to operate.
Al Rashid Trust was engaged in relief work in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban.
The United States designated the Al Akhtar Trust a terrorist organization in 2003, accusing it of raising money for militants in Iraq.
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