State Bank of Pakistan has started freezing accounts of terror suspects countrywide.

The State Bank of Pakistan has started freezing accounts of terror suspects countrywide.

Following through on instructions issued by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), the State Bank has so far frozen accounts of close to 2,100 suspected terrorist organisations and facilitators of terrorism.

The private and official accounts of people included in Schedule 4 have been frozen, reports said. The State Bank was given names and National ID numbers of the people included in Schedule 4, the sources added.

The State Bank had issued instructions to private banks regarding the matter 15 days ago upon which the private banks froze the concerned accounts, the sources said, adding that the lists of suspected terrorists in Schedule 4 were only recently updated on district levels.The Sindh High Court asked the State Bank of Pakistan on Friday to produce the foreign ministry’s notification for freezing of Al-Rashid Trust’s accounts under the UN rules.

The order was passed by a division bench, comprising Justices Mohammad Roshan Essani and Gulzar Ahmed, when the SBP counsel stated that the bank accounts of Al-Rashid and an allied organization, Al-Akhtar Trust, had been frozen under the UN rules.

He said the notification was issued by the foreign ministry following an SHC judgment declaring that the SBP was not competent to freeze the accounts and that only a federal government agency could notify an organization as being suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.

Following the issuance of the notification, the SBP ordered commercial banks to freeze the accounts of Al-Rashid Trust and allied organizations.

The accounts of Al-Akhtar Trust were also frozen. The trust moved a petition against the action, saying that it was taken without notice or affording it an opportunity of hearing. It denied links with the Al-Rashid Trust or involvement in any terrorism-related activity whatsoever.

Appearing for the federal government, Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad submitted that the action was taken in accordance with the law and rules and in national interest.

The bench asked the petitioner’s counsel to produce a copy of the SHC judgment declaring the SBP freeze order void and the SBP counsel to submit a copy of the foreign ministry’s notification relied upon by him.