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Hafiz Mohammed Saeed	Hafiz Mohammed Saeed	Jamat-ud-Dawa	India-Pakistan				20021101
	Hafiz Mohammed Saeed	Lashkar-e-Taiba	Afghanistan/South Asia				20040713	Link
	Hafiz Mohammed Saeed	Jamaat al-Dawa	India-Pakistan				20060318	Link

India-Pakistan

Cong for action against Hurriyat

2017-05-20

[Daily Excelsior] The Congress today termed as "extremely serious" the allegations that Hurriyat leaders received funds from across the border and called for strong action as it involves national security. AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also hit out at the central and the Jammu and Kashmire Governments saying there has never been such a rapid, accelerated and tragic decline in governance in the State as has been during the last 36 months. "It is extremely serious. It is gross, brazen and blatant and deserves the strongest action in the shortest possible time and in the most effective manner. This undermines national security directly and completely," he said. The Congress leader, however, trained his guns on the BJP saying its leaders are preaching on Kashmire even when they have been in power both at the Centre and the State, and alleged that there has been lack of governance in the State under them. "What we are seeing everyday is homilies, preachings, lectures, sermons being given by none less than high Government functionaries to which the entire country, in a bemused, amused manner asks itself and the nation asks that whom are you giving lectures to," he said. "Be it casualties, violence, lack of governance, lack of decision making, lack of co-ordination, security scenario different departments and Ministers pulling in directions, no consistency of policy etc. In 36 months we have seen the most rapid decline," he said. Singh said the Congress has also been in power for 10 years in Kashmire amid external infiltrations, "but never before have we seen this kind of tragic state of affairs which makes the heart of every Indian bleed". The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the role of Lashker-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in subversive activities in Jammu and Kashmire. The NIA named the two in its Preliminary Enquiry (PE), which precedes the filing of a case. It also named Naeem Khan, who was seen on television during a sting operation purportedly confessing to receiving money from Pakistain-based terror groups.

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India-Pakistan

LHC bans Indian film over Hafiz Saeed's complaint

2015-08-21

[DAWN] A lawyer for Hafiz Mohammed Saeed said on Thursday that a court has banned an upcoming Bollywood movie that 'imagines' his client being assassinated. Saeed, who has a $10 million bounty on his head over his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, had petitioned the Lahore High Court to ban the film "Phantom" in Pakistain, saying it posed a threat to his life and was Indian propaganda meant to hurt Pakistain's image. "It is absurd to say that (Saeed) is linked to the attacks in Mumbai," said lawyer A.K. Dogar. "We hope the government will take steps to implement the court order." According to a court document, the government informed the Lahore High Court that it had received no request from the producer of "Phantom" to show the movie in Pakistain. "Phantom" will be released in India on August 28. A brief statement from the court announcing the decision did not give its reason for banning the film. There was no immediate reaction from the film's producer. Director Kabir Khan has been quoted as saying that Saeed is the one who is spreading a hate agenda. In Phantom, based on the novel "Mumbai Avengers" by S. Hussain Zaidi, Indian spies target those behind the Mumbai siege, a three-day rampage in India's financial capital that left 166 people dead. But unlike the novel, which used pseudonyms for those accused of plotting the attack, "Phantom" apparently names Saeed, as well as American David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced to 35 years in a US prison for his role in planning the siege. Authorities in the United States and India blamed the myrmidon group Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , which is seen as a front for Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... 's Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD), for carrying out the Mumbai assault.

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India-Pakistan

Govt warned against restoring NATO supplies

2012-02-13

KARACHI — Leaders of religio-political alliance on Sunday vowed that Nato supplies would not be allowed to resume at any cost and urged the masses to lay siege to Parliament House on February 20, during a rally attended by thousands at Bagh-e-Qaid in Karachi. The speakers also demanded immediate end to drone attacks, have relations with United States on equal terms, release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and measures to solve the worsening situation in Balochistan. No, no, no, and who cares? The 44-party alliance top leaders including Jamat-e-Islami’s (JI) Syed Munawar Hassan, Jamiat Ulema Islam’s (JUI) Maulana Samiul Haq, Jamaat-ud-Daawa Amir Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Sheikh Rashid and Ejazul Haq addressed the gathering and all of them condemned ‘foreign meddling’ in the country. They warned against the possible reopening of the Nato supply and PPP-led government’s policies leading to corruption and rampant inflation.

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Home Front: WoT

Pakistani held for backing Lashkar

2011-09-03

[Dawn] A man of Pak origin has been nabbed and charged in the US with supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba, FBI officials said on Friday. Jubair Ahmad, 24, of Woodbridge, Virginia, allegedly received religious training from the terrorist group as a teenager in Pakistain and later attended one of its training camps. Jubair came to the United States in 2007 with his family. He`s been under investigation for two years, ever since the US Federal Bureau of Investigation got a tip that he might be connected to the group, the officials said. The US State Department has designated Lashkar-e-Taiba as a terrorist group. An affidavit submitted in a Virginia court claims that in September 2010, Jubair produced and uploaded a propaganda video to YouTube on behalf of LeT, after communications with a person named "Talha". In a subsequent conversation with another person, Jubair identified Talha as Talha Saeed, the son of LeT leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. Talha and Jubair allegedly communicated about the images, music and audio that Jubair was to use to make the video. The final video contained images of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed, so-called jihadi deaders and armoured trucks exploding after they were hit by improvised bombs. In October 2010, Talha allegedly contacted Jubair and requested that he revise the LeT propaganda video, giving Jubair specific instructions. Jubair allegedly revised the video and posted it on Oct 16, 2010. In August 2011, FBI agents interviewed Jubair, but he denied any involvement with the October 2010 video. If convicted, Jubair faces a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison on the material support charge and eight years in prison on the charge of making false statements in a terrorism investigation. In June, a Pakistain-born Chicago businessman was found guilty of providing support to Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 2008 Mumbai assault but not guilty of taking part in the attack. Tahawwur Rana, 50, a former Pakistain Army doctor with Canadian citizenship, was also found guilty of conspiring to attack a Danish newspaper; a plot hatched by the myrmidon group but never carried out.

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India-Pakistan

Lone surviving Mumbai attacks gunman admits guilt

2009-07-20

The lone surviving gunman in the November Mumbai attacks admitted his role in the shooting rampage in a dramatic confession Monday in an Indian court, reversing months of denials. Pakistani Ajmal Kasab, on trial since April 17 in a special court, stood up just as a prosecution witness was to take the stand and addressed the judge. "Sir, I plead guilty to my crime," he said, triggering a collective gasp in the courtroom. Judge M.L. Tahiliyani, who also was apparently taken aback, called lawyers from both sides to figure out the significance of Kasab's statement. A total of 166 people were killed in the attacks by 10 gunmen in Mumbai, India's financial capital, that began Nov. 26. It ended three days later with troops storming the Taj Mahal Hotel where some gunmen were holed up. It was not immediately clear what prompted Kasab, 21, to make the statement after consistently denying he was guilty. "Everybody in the court was shocked the moment he said he accepts his crime. It was unexpected," public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said. "We have finally extracted the truth." Harish Salve, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, said it was not clear if Kasab confessed voluntarily. "I am sorry to play the party spoiler. But I hope he doesn't come the day after and give it another twist," he said. Majid Memon, another lawyer, said the only question that needs to be answered now is "whether this admission today ... in this important trial is voluntary or involuntary." If the confession holds up in court it will be a big boost to India's claims that terrorist groups in Pakistan were behind the attack, and that Islamabad was not doing enough to clamp down on them. Late last month the special court also issued arrest warrants for 22 Pakistani nationals accused of masterminding the attacks. India blames Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The founder of the group, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, was arrested with two other senior figures by Pakistani authorities in December. A court in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore freed Saeed, a hard-line Islamic cleric, in June saying there was no evidence against him. The federal government will appeal the verdict. In his statement Monday, Kasab named Saeed as a conspirator.

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India-Pakistan

ISI may be hiding India's Most Wanted fugitive militant

2009-06-24

Denying that Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the pro-Kashmir jehadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has been arrested from the Sialkot city of Punjab, the Pakistani authorities have said his whereabouts are unknown and he might have fled to the trouble-ridden Waziristan region. But some intelligence officials believe that Masood Azhar, who had to be released by India following the hijacking of an Air India plane in 2000, could be living under the protection of the Inter-Services Intelligence in the garrison town of Rawalpindi which also houses the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army and those of the ISI. Following the June 17 arrest of five JeM activists from Punjab's Sialkot district, there were rumours that among them was Azhar, whom the Indian government wants extradited. But Pakistani intelligence sources say a consensus exists in the establishment that Masood Azhar should not be handed over to India under any circumstances. The sources said the official stance of the Pakistani government remains that Azhar had abandoned his Bahawalpur headquarters following the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and is still at large. However, some intelligence sources did not rule out the possibility of the JeM chief's moving to some ISI safe house in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, as had been the case with Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the ameer of the Harkatul Mujahideen, already renamed as Jamiatul Ansar, The sources pointed out that earlier this month, the Indian government's efforts in the United Nations to place sanctions on Maulana Masood Azhar received a major setback, after London surprisingly joined hands with Beijing to block New Delhi's request for proscribing the JeM chief under the United Nations' Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions resolution No 1267. The sources claimed that this would not have been possible had Britain and China not been persuaded by Pakistan government to do so. India had wanted Azhar to be included in the sanctions list just as the Jamaatul Daawa and its head Hafiz Mohammed Saeed along with other LeT operatives were proscribed after 26/11. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) or "the Army of the Prophet Mohammad," is one of the deadliest militant groups operating from Pakistan and waging 'jehad' against the Indian security forces in Jammu & Kashmir. It was launched by Maulana Masood Azhar at the behest of the ISI in February 2000, shortly after he was released from an Indian jail, in exchange for hostages on board an Indian Airlines plane which was hijacked by five armed Kashmiri militants and taken to Kandahar in December 1999. While resuming his activities in Pakistan almost immediately after his release, Maulana Masood Azhar announced the formation of his own militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, with the prime objective of fighting out the Indian security forces in Kashmir. Masood Azhar was the ideologue of another militant group, the Harkatul Ansar, which was banned in 1997 by the US State Department, due to its alleged link with Osama bin Laden. Therefore, the Jaish is ideologically an extension of the Harkatul Ansar which rechristened itself as Harkatul Mujahideen in 1998, a year after being banned. In December 2008, almost a week after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistani authorities placed restrictions on the movement of Masood Azhar by confining him to his multi-storied concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur. The action was taken in the wake of Indian government's demand to hand over three persons to Delhi --Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon. India had sought their extradition by citing a 1989 agreement signed by Director General of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency which binds both the agencies to collaborate with each other to trace out the most wanted terrorists and criminals and hand them over to their respective counterpart. The Indian demand said that Masood Azhar was wanted for his alleged involvement in the 2001 attacks on the Indian parliament. However, the Indian demand was followed by media reports that Masood Azhar has abandoned his Jaish headquarters in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur and temporarily shifted his base to the trouble-stricken South Waziristan region in the wake the mounting Indian pressure for his extradition. However, in the second week of April 2009, Masood Azhar was declared 'officially' missing from Pakistan. A 13 January 2009 new report in Daily Times quoted official sources in Islamabad as having said that the Jaish chief has abandoned his headquarters in Bahawalpur and was missing now. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik officially declared that Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim were not in Pakistan adding that Islamabad would not provide protection and refuge to any criminal. However, Indian External Affairs Minister Paranab Mukherjee ridiculed Pakistan for denying the 'obvious presence' of the Jaish chief, saying: "India had several times got different information from Pakistan on Masood Azhar and it was not unusual to hear such denials from Pakistani officials".

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India-Pakistan

India issues warrants for 22 more 26/11 suspects

2009-06-24

[Geo News] An Indian court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for 22 Pakistani nationals accused of masterminding last year's deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks, including the founder of an Islamist militant group recently freed by a Pakistani court. An Indian prosecutor demanded that Islamabad extradite all the suspects, though Pakistan has vowed that it will not transfer any Mumbai suspects to longtime rival India, saying instead it will try them in its own courts. The warrants were issued in response to a prosecutors' motion in the ongoing trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving suspected gunman in last year's attacks that left some 166 dead in a three-day siege. Among those sought for arrest were Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, founder of the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba -- which India blames for the launching attacks -- and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, two leaders of the group. Pakistan arrested all three in December after Indian diplomats provided a dossier of evidence in a rare sharing of intelligence between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence. However, a court in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore earlier this month freed Saeed, a hard-line Islamic cleric, saying there was no evidence against him. Indian officials heatedly condemned the move. The Indian's court's issuance of arrest warrants Tuesday had been expected, since New Delhi has long identified the 22 suspects as terrorists.

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India-Pakistan

Delhi stunned: UK & China stall move to blacklist Masood Azhar

2009-05-31

New Delhi: Barely seven months after the Mumbai attacks, Indian efforts in the United Nations to place sanctions on Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Maulana Masood Azhar have received a major setback. In a surprise move, the United Kingdom has joined hands with China to block the Indian request to proscribe both Azhar and Azam Cheema, the Lashkar-e-Toiba operative accused in the Mumbai train blasts, under the UN's "Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions" resolution (1267). Please don't hurt us. India had wanted these two along with Abdul Rehman Makki, another LeT ideologue, to be included in the list just like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its head Hafiz Mohammed Saeed were added along with other LeT operatives after the Mumbai attacks. The banning under UN resolution 1267 means freezing of assets, travel ban and embargo on arms. What has stunned India is the UK's position because the Jaish as an outfit is already banned by the UN and so it is only logical for Azhar to be put on that list. It's learnt that London has asked for "fresh evidence" and "more details" while placing the request on a procedural hold. China has taken a similar position. See? We're on your side. Please, please don't hurt us. China, it may be recalled, had also placed a similar hold on the banning of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its head Hafiz Saeed along with Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi last year even after the US placed the outfit and the individuals under its sanctions list. Beijing's argument was that it could not be conclusively proven that JuD was a front organisation of the Lashkar that had already been banned. But under immense US pressure after the Mumbai attacks, China removed the hold which led to banning of the outfit. As a result of that action, Pakistan was forced to take action against Saeed, who was detained and the JuD offices were sealed. A case is now underway in Pakistan where Saeed is challenging his detention while the Pakistan government is saying that it is only following a UN decision. India had hoped similar action would be possible against Azhar, who was released after the Kandhar hijack and has since then been in Pakistan. Subsequently, he was also named as the man behind the 2002 attack on Parliament. He is also one case where the usual tussle for "evidence" with Pakistan may not become such an issue because he was released under duress through an act of terror. Pakistan, however, has denied his presence in its territory even though security agencies here have detailed information about the new house he has built in Bahawalpur, an account written by a visiting Pakistani gave a detailed account of how the Jaish set-up had grown in the city. Several Jaish terrorists nabbed in India, including those plotting the abduction of Rahul Gandhi, have given information about Azhar's activities in Pakistan. Azam Cheema, on the other hand, was in charge of India operations in the LeT and those held for the Mumbai train blasts had been trained by him. Cheema has a farmhouse, according to sources, outside Bahawalpur and even runs a training facility there. However, he is also employed as a teacher of Islamic studies in the Zaranwala Degree College. Of late, Cheema has been keeping a low profile while Yousuf alia Muzammil had emerged as the in-charge of operations in India. On both these cases, India was confident of securing a ban. India had also moved a third request in the UN against Abdul Rehman Makki, a noted ideologue of the LeT who was handling JuD's relations abroad and is now effectively heading the outfit after the crackdown. Makki figured in the interrogation of many LeT trained terrorists, including some of Indian origin. He has a profile of a motivator with effective oratory skills. The fate of this request is still not clear, said sources.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistain: 124 held in crackdown over Mumbai terrorist attacks

2009-01-17

(AKI/DAWN) - Pakistan has bowed to international pressure and arrested at 124 militants suspected of involvement in the deadly terrorist attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai last November, including several of their leaders and officials. The government on Thursday said it had closed five training camps and 20 offices belonging to banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the outlawed Kashmiri separatist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba. It also announced it had banned their seven publications and blocked all their websites. India holds LeT responsible for the Mumbai attacks and Jamaat-ud-Dawa is widely believed to be a LeT front organisation. Addressing a news conference, the Pakistani prime minister's adviser on interior affairs, Rehman Malik, assured India that Pakistan would do its utmost to bring the people involved in the Mumbai attacks to justice. Unveiling details of a massive crackdown, Malik said that training camps had been closed down in Punjab and in Azad Kashmir. Assuring India that sincere efforts were being made to bring to justice all the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, Malik urged New Delhi to provide Pakistani investigators with access to the scenes of the attacks and to jointly investigate the incident so that all those involved could be brought to justice. He announced the formation of a special investigation team headed by an additional director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to examine, "without any prejudice", all aspects of the Mumbai attacks and the information provided by India. The team will include two officers with counter-terrorism experience. "Information has been provided by India and we have formed an investigation team to reach the culprits," he said. Malik said the members of the banned organisations who had been detained included their founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, LeT 'operations commander' Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Mufti Abdur Rehman, Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed and Ameer Hamza. "We have arrested a total of 124 mid-level and top leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa in response to a UN resolution - 69 from Punjab, 21 from Sindh, eight from Balochistan and 25 from the NorthWest Frontier Province," he said. "We have blocked six websites associated with the organisation and closed down its five relief camps," he added. He said 20 offices, 87 schools, two libraries, seven seminaries and a handful of other organisations and websites linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawa had also been shut. The publications banned are Mujalatud Dawa, Zarb-i-Taiba, Voice of Islam, Nanhay Mujahid, Ghazwa and Al Rabta. Malik did not say whether any legal proceedings had been begun against those detained in the crackdown. However, sources told Dawn newspaper that the government was considering trying of at least three leaders of the banned groups wanted by India. Rehman urged India to allow Pakistani investigation officials to visit the country. "India should wait for the results of the investigation. It will reveal all hidden truths. Pakistan and India need to sit together against their common enemy - terrorists," he said. "We have to prove to the world that India and Pakistan stand together against terrorists," he said. He reiterated that Pakistan had nothing to do with the attacks. "We condemned the incident on all platforms. Pakistan is also suffering at the hands of militants and that is worrying us." Responding to a question, he said a joint investigation would "bring quick results". He said India had handed over 19 pages of information which Pakistan is evaluating as evidence. Malik ruled out handing over any Pakistani suspect to India. He said Pakistani laws allowed for prosecution of citizens who might have committed crimes elsewhere. He said results of the investigation being conducted by the FIA would be made public and nothing would be concealed.

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India-Pakistan

A monster out of control: Pakistan secret agents tell of militant links

2008-12-23

Via the good folks at Long War Journal The Islamic fundamentalists who run the Markaz-e-Taiba complex near Lahore like to boast that it was inspired by Aitchison College, Pakistan's poshest private school. It is, as they describe it, the Eton of Wahhabi Islam, complete with polo ponies and a swimming pool. Yet when it comes to their links to Pakistan's intelligence service and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group blamed for last month's attacks in Mumbai, they seem to suffer from collective amnesia. “We've never had any connection to either,” Mohammed Abbas, the administrator of the complex, told The Times. But it was here, in April 2001, that Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, LeT's leader at the time, called a meeting of his supporters in the 75-acre complex of red-brick buildings and neat lawns. Most of the visitors wore the obligatory long beards, but among them was an elderly man with no beard, only a thin, military-style moustache. General Gul, 72, was the ISI chief from 1987-89 and had long since retired by 2001. Since the attacks in Mumbai, however, such meetings have added weight to India's assertion that Pakistani intelligence has close ties to LeT and other militant groups involved in attacks on Indian soil. Rest at link

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India-Pakistan

Blacklist terror charity still open in Pakistan

2008-12-14

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 U.N. Security Council placed the group on a terrorist list, the Times has learned. Pakistani officials say they ordered the closure of JuD's facilities on Thursday under pressure from India and the United States, which see it is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) -- the militant group blamed for the Mumbai attack. But when The Times visited the Markaz-e-Taiba complex in the town of Muridke, 30 miles from the eastern city of Lahore, this afternoon it was functioning as normal and there was 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 members and about 40 others were moving freely around the buildings, none of which was sealed. "We have not had any official communication about closing," Mohammed Abbas (also known as Abu Ahsan), the 34-year-old administrator of the complex, told The Times. "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 they left after half an hour when the guards told them that the students were away for the holidays. "If I had been there, I'm sure they would have taken me," said Mr Abbas, who was in Lahore when the police visited. He said he spoke to the local police chief at the time. The half-hearted police raid is certain to feed Indian -- and Western -- skepticism about the Pakistani government's crackdown on JuD, which is led by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of LeT. Pakistani police placed him under house arrest on Thursday after he and four colleagues were added to the U.N. terrorist list. His house was surrounded by police, who barred entry when The Times visited. They have shut down JuD's offices in Lahore, which The Times also verified, and in several other cities, and conducted a high profile raid on one of its complexes in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. However, Pakistani authorities fear they could spark a public backlash by closing down JuD's network of educational and healthcare facilities, which support tens of thousands of people around Pakistan. JuD and its allies are already stoking public resentment about the U.N. decision to add it to the terrorist list before India has presented Pakistan with evidence of its role in the Mumbai attacks. "The whole international community is acting very hurriedly," said Abdullah Muntazir, a JuD spokesman, who said he had not been arrested, but dozens of other JuD leaders had been. "Justice hurried is justice denied," he told The Times. Mr Saeed founded JuD in 1986, with Saudi money, as a charity designed to spread the ultra-conservative Wahabi school of Islam by providing poor Pakistanis with education, healthcare and disaster relief. He also founded LeT in 1989 with the explicit goal of fighting Indian rule in Kashmir and forged close ties with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. When Let was banned in 2002, after its militants attacked the Indian parliament the year before, it continued to function under the banner of JuD, according to Indian and Western officials. But JuD also continued with its social work, establishing a network of 153 healthcare centres, eight hospitals, 160 schools and 50 madressahs. It now claims to treat 6,000 patients a day, to teach more than 35,000 students, and to run one of Pakistan's biggest ambulance services. Markaz-e-Taiba is its showcase centre, featuring a boys' school, a girls' school, an Islamic University, a large mosque, a farm and a well-equipped hospital with three full-time doctors. It even has a swimming pool and 20 well groomed horses for student's physical education. Mr Abbas said it was inspired by a tour of Lahore's Aitchison College, Pakistan's most elite private school whose alumni include Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricket captain. "If Aitchison College was collaborating with us at that time, then how come we now face this problem now?" he said. JuD now denies any link to LeT and any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, and has pledged to fight the decision to close it down through Pakistani and international courts. Mr Abbas, however, warned the government that closing Markaz-e-Taiba could provoke a backlash from locals, many of whom donate money, attend the mosque and send their children there for education. "You can't record a single incident where we have blocked roads or burned tyres, but if this complex is closed, parents of our students may well come on the roads and do such things," he said. "We don't know what will happen when the students return on Monday." Pakistani officials are especially concerned about a backlash in the province of Punjab, where Markaz-e-Taiba is situated, as the densely populated region has been relatively stable until now, analysts say. Local officials contacted by The Times declined to comment on why the complex, next to the Grand Trunk road between Lahore and Islamabad, had not been closed.

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India-Pakistan

Mumbai suspect lives freely in Pakistan

2008-12-07

LAHORE, Pakistan -- For a suspected terrorist watched by Washington and wanted in New Delhi, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed seems remarkably carefree. He lives openly in Lahore, and on Friday, he led prayers at his group's mosque, lecturing about sacrifice to almost 10,000 followers as three armed men stood behind him. The extradition of Saeed, founder of the Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, or "army of the pure," was demanded by Indian authorities after the 60-hour siege in Mumbai that killed at least 171 people. He is a suspect in several other attacks in India; the U.S. has listed both Lashkar and its parent group, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, as terrorist organizations. But Saeed's apparently lax treatment in Pakistan highlights the challenge facing the fledgling civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani: how to restrain militant groups once and still supported by the security forces but now refueling animosity with Pakistan's archfoe India and immense new pressure from the U.S. Without directly pointing fingers on her visit to Islamabad last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded Pakistan actively respond to India's allegations that Lashkar or other Pakistani militants were responsible for the Mumbai attacks. Lashkar and other groups were founded in the 1980s and early 1990s with the help of the military and spy agencies to fight in the conflict over Indian-controlled Kashmir, disputed since the independence of Pakistan and India in 1947. Although Pakistan banned the groups in 2002, most kept operating and just took new names. For many Pakistanis, Saeed, 63, is a hero. His group, which reverted to its original name of Jamaat-ud-Dawa after being banned, now professes to perform only charity work. Just providing a little help for the Widows Ammunition Fund ... His group's spokesman claims that Saeed is barely involved with Lashkar and describes the group as based in India. And while he has been placed under house arrest several times in the past, Saeed is allowed to go wherever he wants nowadays. The country's powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, helped create most of the Kashmiri groups, experts say. But it's not clear what role the ISI or the army have had with the groups recently. Most analysts doubt any government agency had a role in the Mumbai attacks, although rogue and former government operatives may have been involved. Since winning power, the civilian leaders, have tried to rein in the ISI. Last summer they attempted, without success, to place the agency under the control of the Interior Ministry. They also nominated a new ISI chief, considered a U.S. ally, and pushed to dismantle the agency's political wing. Analysts said that it was extremely unlikely that Pakistan would turn over Saeed or 19 other men on India's wanted list, or two Lashkar leaders Indian authorities say masterminded the Mumbai attacks. If they did so the already weak government would face a major backlash. Saeed and the Jamaat group are very popular in Lahore. On Thursday, the group's spokesman offered reporters a tour at the group's elaborate compound outside the city. At Friday prayers, everyone waited quietly to hear every word Saeed said. According to a Pakistani journalist who heard the sermon, Saeed said Muslims should not fear bloodshed nor sacrificing themselves for Islam but denied that Jamaat-ud-Dawa had anything to do with the attacks in Mumbai. He is hardly the only militant wanted by the Indian government who appears to operate freely in public in Pakistan. Maulana Masood Azhar, a militant leader released by India in exchange for hostages on a hijacked airliner in 1999, is building a giant mosque in Bahawalpur. Jamaat also seems more out in the open than ever, even though many experts say the group uses relief work to recruit new militants. Last month, it held two large meetings in Lahore's Punjab province, the first large meetings Jamaat held since Lashkar was banned. Saeed talked about the idea of jihad, and some women were so impressed with his speeches that they gave the group their gold jewelry, said Jamaat spokesman Muhammad Yahya Mujahid. There are now also posters, even in relatively moderate Lahore, advertising the group. One billboard proclaimed: "We can sacrifice our lives to preserve the holiness of the prophet."

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