Blacklisting Mahmood blocked by China: The man who raised funds under garb of religion in India

Mahmood is wanted in several cases and he is the deputy chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's financial wing Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation.

New Delhi, Oct 19: China has yet again blocked a move by India to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist Shahid Mahmood. While it is indeed a setback, the move by China is hardly surprising considering that Beijing has exercised this power at the United Nations several times.

Mahmood is wanted in several cases and in 2019, the National Investigation Agency had unearthed plenty of details about this terrorist. Mahmood is the deputy chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's financial wing, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF).

Investigation carried out by the NIA revealed that Chief of Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) namely Hafiz Mohammad Saeed along with Deputy Chief of FIF namely Shahid Mahmood hatched a conspiracy around 2012 to create sympathisers/sleeper cells and logistic base in Delhi and Haryana under the garb of religious work such as construction of mosques, madrasas and financial assistance for marriage of poor Muslim girls.

Shahid Mahmood tasked his associates namely Mohammad Kamran, a Pakistani national based in Dubai, for re-routing funds from Pakistan to Dubai and further to India through hawala channels.

Shahid Mehmood further tasked Mohammad Kamran to identify such persons who could be given this fund in the name of construction of mosque, education in Madrasa, marriage of Muslims girls, medical assistance, etc to create its bases and to motivate sympathizers initially.

During this preparatory work, the target persons were intended to be used for creating sleeper cells/hideouts. Accordingly, Mohammad Kamran identified few Indian Nationals in Dubai and also identified one Indian national namely Mohammad Salman, a resident of Delhi.

He started transferring large amount of funds (through hawala) with the help of above accused Mohammad Hussain in the name of religious work, construction of mosque Khulfa-e-Rashideen in Uttawar at Haryana and for marriage of Muslims girls.