Jeremy Page in Muridke
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The main complex of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the Pakistani charity linked to last month’s attack on Mumbai, is still open four days after the UN Security Council placed the group on a terrorist list, The Times has learnt.
Pakistan claims that it ordered the closure of JuD’s facilities on Thursday under pressure from India and the United States, which consider the group a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — the militant group blamed for the Mumbai attack.
But when The Times visited the complex in Muridke, 30 miles from the eastern city of Lahore, over the weekend it was functioning normally with no sign of any police presence.
Most of the 1,600 students at the complex were away for last week’s Eid holidays, but a dozen or so staff and about 40 others were moving freely around the buildings, none of which was sealed. Mohammed Abbas, 34, also known as Abu Ahsan, the administrator of the complex, said: “We’ve not had any official communication about closing. A lot of parents have been calling, afraid that it will be closed or there could be some violence, but we are telling them to send their children back.”
He said that about 80 armed police had visited the complex on Wednesday night but had left after 30 minutes when the guards told them that the students were away for the holidays. The half-hearted raid is certain to feed scepticism about Pakistan’s supposed crackdown on the movement, which is led by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of LeT.
Police placed him under house arrest on Thursday after he was added to the UN terrorist list. They have shut down JuD’s offices in Lahore and other cities and raided one of its complexes in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. However, Pakistani authorities fear that they could spark a public backlash by closing down JuD’s 153 healthcare centres, eight hospitals, 160 schools and 50 madrassas.
The group, founded in 1986 to spread the Wahhabi school of Islam, claims to treat 6,000 patients a day, to teach more than 35,000 students and to provide disaster relief for thousands of others. Its showcase centre, Markaz-e-Taiba, has a boys’ school, a girls’ school, an Islamic university, a mosque, a hospital, a swimming pool and 20 horses. JuD denies any link to LeT and any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, and has pledged to fight to stay open through Pakistani and international courts.
Mr Abbas also warned the Government that closing Markaz-e-Taiba could anger locals, many of whom donate money, attend the mosque and send their children there for education.
He said: “You can’t record a single incident where we’ve blocked roads or burnt tyres, but if this complex is closed, parents of our students may well come on the roads and do such things.”
The complex was still open when The Times checked again last night. Government officials declined to comment officially but said privately that they did not plan to close the complex as they had no evidence that it was a security threat. They were, however, considering taking it over to comply with the UN while continuing its social work.
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