Islamabad welcomes UN sanctions on Pakistani militant group

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s foreign ministry has praised the United Nations for imposing sanctions on a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, which is linked to deadly attacks in the country.

In a statement Friday, the ministry welcomed the move in which the U.N. Security Council on Thursday added the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group to a list of organizations and individuals subject to freezing of assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo.

The ministry said the U.N. took this step at Islamabad’s request.

Pakistan often claims that Jamaat-ul-Ahrar operates from neighbouring Afghanistan. It imposed a ban on the group last year and launched a crackdown to trace and arrest its leadership.