Amid intense international pressure to rein in militant groups operating from its soil, the Pakistan government took over administrative control of the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the terror outfit which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu & Kashmir.

The move came a day after the powerful UN Security Council comprising 15 nations, including Pakistan’s key ally China, named JeM in a statement condemning the terror attack and stressed on the need to hold organisers and financiers of such “reprehensible acts” accountable and bring them to justice.

Meanwhile, Paris-headquartered international terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) also condemned the Pulwama terror attack and decided to continue the ‘grey’ listing of Pakistan for its failure to stop funding of terrorist groups such as JeM, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

The FATF continuing Pakistan with the ‘grey’ listing means downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like International Monetary Fund, World Bank, ADB, European Union and also a reduction in risk rating by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the Punjab government has taken over control of the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur, about 400 km from Lahore.

“The government of Punjab has taken over the control of a campus comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah in Bahawalpur, allegedly the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad, and appointed an administrator to manage its affairs,” he said.

The campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and currently 600 students are studying there, a statement issued by the interior ministry said, adding that the Punjab police is providing security and protection to the campus.

The crackdown on Jaish “has been taken in line with the decision of the National Security Committee meeting held on February 21 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan”, it said. Pakistan also banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led JuD and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT, which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai terror attack that killed 166 people. It was declared as a terrorist organisation by the US in 2014.