The United States has praised conviction of Hafiz Saeed and called it Pakistan’s step in meeting its international commitments to combat terrorist financing.

The top US diplomat for South Asia Alice wells Tweeted  “the conviction “of Hafiz Saeed and his associate is an important step forward — both toward holding LeT accountable for its crimes, and for Pakistan in meeting its international commitments to combat terrorist financing,” she stated.

And as @ImranKhanPTI has said, it is in the interest of #Pakistan’s future that it not allow non-state actors to operate from its soil. AGW

— State_SCA (@State_SCA) February 12, 2020

It is pertinent to mention here that Lahore anti-terrorism court convicted Jamatud Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed in two terror-financing cases on Wednesday.

The court sentenced with prison of five and a half years and a fine of Rs15,000 in each case.

The sentences of both cases will run concurrently.

He was convicted under ATA Section 11-F (2) and 11-N.

The court had earlier reserved its verdict in the two cases on February 6.

ATC judge Arshad Hussain Bhatta announced the verdict.

The cases filed by the Counter-Terrorism Department’s (CTD) Lahore and Gujranwala chapters.

The case filed by CTD’s Gujranwala chapter initially being heard in a Gujranwala ATC but was shifted to Lahore on the directions of the Lahore High Court.

The JuD chief was arrested by CTD in July last year, while he was travelling from Lahore to Gujranwala. Prior to his arrest, 23 first information reports had been registered against JuD leaders, including Saeed and JuD Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, at CTD police stations of Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad and Sargodha in July 2019.

According to the CTD, JuD financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations and trusts including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust, etc.

These non-profit organisations were banned in April last year as the CTD, during detailed investigations, found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership.