ISLAMABAD: Despite being declared a banned organization by the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the Pakistan govenrment in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Jamaatul Daawa (JuD) led by the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was given a huge amount of Rs82 million by the Punjab government being run by Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the Pakistani opposition leader and twice-elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
According to the budget documents of the Punjab province for 2010-11, the amount was paid to the Jamaatul Daawa as official grant during the outgoing financial year. The supplementary budget for the outgoing fiscal presented before the provincial assembly of Punjab for its approval reveals that the provincial government gave a grant of Rs79 million to the Muridke headquarters of the Jamaatul Daawa called Markaz-e-Tayyaba. Another sum of Rs3 million was then given as grants to the schools being run by the JuD in the different districts of Punjab, according to the supplementary budget documents for 2009-10.
Approached for comments, the Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan admitted to having given the money to the JuD. “As a matter of fact, the money was given to these institutions after the organisation was banned (following the Mumbai attacks on Nov 26, 2008) and administrator was appointed by the government to run the JuD affairs. The purpose of giving this grant, he said, was to continue the welfare services provided by the organisation’s schools, dispensaries and hospitals.
The Muridke headquarters of the JuD, which was being used as the headquarters of the LeT till December 2001, is functioning normally despite being declared a banned terrorist organization. However, a visit to the place would indicate that nothing has changed for those living, working, studying and getting medical treatment at the sprawling JuD headquarters outside Muridke town, about 20 kilometers north of Lahore. No one has been forced out of their houses inside the massive compound that also contains several schools, a huge hospital, a deeni madrasah and administrative offices. Children attend school regularly and patients get their check-ups and medicines without a hitch.
But there is one difference: the headquarters is, on the surface, no longer run by the JuD itself. Since January 2009, it has been under the supervision and administrative control of the Punjab government, a change resulting from the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 against the JuD. But a debate on the validity and the legal implications of the resolution aside, the administrative change has simply shifted the work – that JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and his close aides were doing – to Khaqan Babar, a civil servant, whom the Punjab government appointed as administrator. Even Hafiz Saeed continues to visit the place regularly because one part of his family lives inside the headquarters.
It was a day after December 10, 2008, when the United Nations Security Council declared the self-proclaimed Islamic charity Jamaatud Dawa (JD) an affiliate of al-Qaeda, which not just intensified the international pressure on the Pakistani government but also provided a legal justification under international law to crack down on the organisation. In response to this, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued a notification listing the three actions against JD and some of its key members – an asset freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo – required by the UNSC Resolution 1267, which governs sanctions regime regarding al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their affiliates.
Dated December 11, 2008, the notification stated: “The individuals and entities listed in the annexure to this order … shall stand subjected to the travel restrictions and arms embargo in accordance with the aforesaid resolutions and their bank accounts, funds and financial resources … and other individuals, groups undertakings and entities associated with them shall stand frozen.” The annexure listed JD as well as some other organisations and individuals.
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