Hafiz Saeed and other leaders of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FiF) are still freely using the banned groups’ offices despite Pakistan’s claims that all the assets of the two outfits have been seized and their bank accounts frozen, an official said on Tuesday.
The government had last month taken over the JuD’s Muridke Markaz and the Chauburji office. But on ground, Saeed and his supporters have left neither the Chauburji headquarters nor the office at Muridke.
Business as usual
“Since the government [took] over the control of JuD headquarters in Lahore last month, Saeed delivered three Friday sermons in three successive weeks in the presence of a large number of his supporters. The government could only deploy its administrator at [Chauburji] while the JuD men are operating from there the way they used to,” an official of the Punjab government said. A similar arrangement was made at JuD’s Muridke headquarters, he added.
The government had initiated action against the groups in pursuance of an ordinance issued by President Mamnoon Hussain in February amending the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, and allowing the state to ban UN-listed organisations.
