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The US has designated both as terrorist groups. Last year the State Department said that Lashkar-i-Taiba used the charity to raise funds and nurture ties with Islamic militant groups around the world.

But while Pakistan has banned Lashkar-i-Taiba, it has not done the same for Jamaat-ud-Dawa (although it has put it on a watchlist). There are good reasons why it might feel inhibited from cracking down on it.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa has won itself great support by providing aid to the north after last year’s earthquake killed more than 73,000 people and left three million homeless.

After pressure from the US and Britain, Musharraf has also begun to tighten government supervision of Pakistan’s madrassas. Most of them are considered to be harmless religious schools, even if their curriculums fail to supply the skills that Pakistan’s economy needs.

But some, particularly near the wild western border, have been headed by imams preaching support for a radical, militant interpretation of Islam.

In responding to the West’s demands for help on terrorism, Musharraf has been nervous of offending conservatives. His army, while apparently loyal, regards the tussle with India over Kashmir as iconic and would jib at a concession too far. His intelligence service has been intimately intertwined with the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Musharraf has raised the stakes for himself by relying on the religious political parties for support. But yesterday, they teamed up with the two big political parties to threaten a no-confidence vote in two weeks’ time. They do not have the parliamentary strength to win, but it is a shot across his bows before elections next year.

YOUR WORDS ON THE WEB

What gets me about this whole thing, if it’s genuine: 1) This has been known of for months . . . right?
2) We have carefully planned our counter- terrorism operation
3) This is the biggest threat since 7/7 . . . right?
Then why the hell is the Prime Minister on holiday? If it was so urgent, why didn’t he stay? The whole thing is politics, ministers keeping us in fear

Gary Higgins, Liverpool

I wasn’t really frightened. It was on the news so everyone was well aware of what had happened

Gwyn Jones, London

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