ISLAMABAD: Pakistan authorities have frozen bank accounts of over 5100 terror suspects, including that of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who remains under "protective custody" after the terror attack on the Pathankot air base.
A senior official of the State Bank of Pakistan said, "Following a request of the Ministry of Interior, we have frozen accounts of all top suspected terrorists, including Masood Azhar, son of Allah Bux." The interior ministry sent three different lists of thousands of suspects, including kingpins of several organisations. Around 1200 suspects whose account were frozen were listed in 'A' category of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997- a term used for terrorists put on exceptional risk or high risk. Officials said, "Azhar's name was listed in category 'A' of the 4th Schedule. It happened since the government put the JeM chief under protective custody of security agencies after terrorists attacked the Pathankot air base."
National Counter-terrorism Authority sent over 5500 names to the SBP earlier this month. Coordinator of the agency Ihsan Ghani confirmed the news. "These accounts hold net amount worth Rs 400 million. More than 3078 accounts of suspects whose accounts were frozen belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, 1443 from Punjab, 226 from Sindh, 193 from Balochistan, 106 from Gilgit-Baltistan, and 27 from the Islamabad Capital Territory," he added. 26 of the suspects belong to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
