Despite international ban, JuD asks for Ramazan donations online

[Abu Zolfiqar]

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Peaceful school or 'terror' base?

BBC News, Muridke, Pakistan

"As you can see for yourselves, this is not a training facility for terrorists," says Abdullah Muntazir.

Mr Muntazir is a spokesman for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa organisation, an Islamic charity.

The organisation has been labelled a political front for the militant organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure).

The Lashkar has been fighting the Indian armed forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir since 1990 and has been accused of hitting numerous Indian targets outside Kashmir - including last week's attacks in Mumbai in which 188 people died.

It has strongly denied being responsible for the Mumbai violence and most other incidents outside of Indian-administered Kashmir for which it has been accused.

But the Lashkar is nevertheless on the list of banned terrorist groups compiled by the US state department.

Mr Muntazir was speaking to the media at the Markaz-e-Taiba (Centre of the Pure) compound set up by Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The compound is commonly referred to as the main headquarters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

It has also been described by Indian media as a training facility for Lashkar militants.

To try to dispel perceptions, Jamaat-ud-Dawa hosted an open house for local and foreign journalists, including the BBC, on Thursday.

The centre is located outside the town of Muridke, about 40km (25 miles) from the eastern city of Lahore in central Punjab.

A small dusty lane leads off the main Grand Trunk Road through a small settlement of farmers and labourers to the gates of the compound.

Basic curriculum

Inside its 75-acre grounds are educational and residential facilities.

There is a secondary school for girls, a high school for boys and two madrassas, or religious schools, one each for girls and boys and hostels for the students.

We were taken on a tour of the entire complex by Mr Muntazir and his team.

"We have classes here until Intermediate (Pakistan equivalent of high school/'A' Levels)," says Rashid Minhas, principal of science.

"The subjects include English and the sciences. We have fully furnished labs here as well as facilities that you would find in any good school in Pakistan.

"The basic curriculum is the same as that taught all over Pakistan, with an added focus on Islam."

According to Mr Minhas, there are 530 boys and 345 girls in the school.

School is in session as we pass through the classrooms.

In the physics lab, a group of students are putting together a circuit which transfers electricity to a light bulb.
As the bulb flashes red, the students exchange smiles of accomplishment. The same scene could be replicated across countless other schools in Pakistan.


One student, Zohaib Naveed, says he is in class eight and comes from a nearby town.
He hopes to be an engineer when he grows up.

When asked by one of the journalists who his leader is, he says simply "Quaid-e-Azam". He is referring to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.

In an adjoining class, students are conducting an experiment, using hydrochloric acid to produce a gas.

They smile and shyly pose for the camera, just like any other normal children in a school setting.

The difference is, because of the allegations levelled against Jamaat-ud-Dawa, their activities could well be deemed as "militant training".

But if that really is the case, the atmosphere in the school and the entire complex is remarkably open and easy.

Nearby is a newly-constructed 60-bed hospital which treats dozens of people daily.

The centre of the compound is dominated by a huge mosque, surrounded by the educational facilities, the residential complex and a small shopping centre.

Men and women move about freely and there is no evidence of any militants or training facilities.

At the barrier at the main gate of the complex the guards were carrying no arms.

The entire complex, in fact, closely represents a university campus.

It appears to be nowhere near the armed training camp described in many - possibly speculative - stories in the international media.

"We have nothing to hide here," says Abdullah Muntazir.

"You can see with your own eyes that the focus is on education and welfare activities. We have nothing to do with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"We have always followed the laws and regulations of Pakistan, and we believe the government will protect us in the face of these false accusations."

 

[zzebie]

India is having a JUD phobia and it is falling more to this disease. JUD runs thousands of medical facilities, schools and welfare centres for the support of the ones who need them the most. There is no harm in asking money for these services.

In Pakistan Jamat-e-Islami and Edhi Foundation are the most active welfare organizations. One needs to visit Pakistan to see their huge contribution to humanity. Why doesn't any Indian Delegation visit Pakistan to checkout what JUD is doing and where do they spend this money after collecting?

If you talk about supporting Kashmir, then it is state of Pakistan's Open Policy that Pakistan supports Kashmir and its Liberation. If collecting funds hurts India, it should also shout when GOP collects tax from its countrymen.

Story of Pakistani establishment's handling of terror outfits. They are not harming us. It's the indians or the rest of the world they are messing up.So why do we care?

 

[qaisar52]

Sir, they are making Talibanization society in the name of welfare and from people's money.
This is banned organization. uneducated and most evil people.

I 100% agreed with you. Take out the India/Kashmir issue; even in Kashmir they destroy the movement of its own people. So to my words, I watched closely all Jihadist organization in 90's and This is the result we are facing.

Kidnapping, target killings, Terror, School bombing all is to terrorize the people and role. No other thinking. To fool the people their message is that we are spreading Islam.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Story of Pakistani establishment's handling of terror outfits. They are not harming us. It's the indians or the rest of the world they are messing up.So why do we care?

JuD is not a militant group; nor have they attacked your country

and nor do you have any evidence to suggest the contrary.....so take a hike, indians

 

[graphican]

Sir, they are making Talibanization society in the name of welfare and from people's money.
This is banned organization. uneducated and most evil people.

That is why I see world needs to learn about them. If they were so bad, they wouldn't have been able to survive over decades and grown in size and service. You should listen to HafizSaeed on one of his interviews and you would find him talking sense.

Also go through their contribution in floods, in earthquakes and during the military operation in which millions had left their homes. Their contribution is recognizable and their welfare efforts have a long history. That is why I suggest that Independent media should come and see what they have been doing for Pakistan and if terrorism is becoming their identification then how wrongly they are being seen. I don't say they haven't been active in Kashmir but presently they are not.. and the remaining side of their terrorism should also come to a complete end.

Why dont they ban twitter account , when they are banned world wide?

Anybody can put a flag and become JUD representative. Who knows if they are really JUD or somebody else? Somebody in India can create a JUD account, put their flag and start tweeting.. just like somebody in Pakistan can create RSS account, put their flag and start tweeting.

 

[Damadji]

A terrorist who fought his cases in the courts of the country and always acquitted from charges. A terrorist who has always been encouraging Indian government to take him to the International Court for Justice and prove in him guilty but all Indian government has managed to do so far is, accuse him and not able to collect any evidence against him

So u want to that:

1. The JUD is banned as a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia, Australia and India.

2. The United Nations declared Jama'at-ud-Da'wah a terrorist organization and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist.

Is it without proof ????????

3. UN, US, EU, Russia, Australia, India and UK have banned JUD without any reason???????????

4. Pakistan have more credibility then UN, US, EU, Russia, Australia, India and UK????

 

[SBD-3]

BJP AND SHIV SENA ARE POLITICAL PARTIES AND COSEN BY PEOPLE UNIKE JUD .THEY NEVER GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY AND EXPLODE HIMSELF NAME OF RELIGION .(USE UR ORIGNAL FLAG)

Oh Great!, so a killer is chosen by people (which is worse), then its not a killer! It happens only in India....

The Money which JDU Is Collecting from Muslim Brothers In The Holy Month will be used to Kill Other Muslim Brothers in Pakistan. I Forgot They also love us.

You're confusing JuD with TTP. Neither JuD is an outfit of TTP, nor the opposite. Their humanitarian efforts stand out from the crowd, even the USAID was forced to use them in 2010 floods since they were they only organization working on ground, not in papers.

This should be banned entirely. None of these radical lunatics should be allowed to operate. They've become a significantly bigger danger to Pakistan itself before anyone else.

On a separate note, how come BJP and Shivsena etc are banned in India? They've killed and burned a lot of people, in fact villages of people both Christians and Muslims. I posted some pics on a different thread. But these fundamental Hindus are just as bad as their distant cousins in Talibans. I think someone should take it to the UN and get all these fundamental crazy sects locked up.

Yaar its all Indian Ranting nothing else. Even til date India hasn't been able to furnish anything credible against JuD except rants. Even US couldn't find anything against JuD. I remember the live reporting of mumbai when Indian authorities were being shown capturing boats, mobiles and stuff and associating them to Pakistan and LeT but nothing came out subsequently except only the word of mouth from Kasab (oral confession has little legal significance under any law) which too keeps changing. Even the recent Abu Jandal Drama was an epic fail since he also couldn't furnish any solid evidence except oral confessions. These people are good at making noise which often goes without notice now since global community knows that Indians try to hide their internal incompetence with ranting against Pakistan.

 

[GR!FF!N]

Yaar its all Indian Ranting nothing else. Even til date India hasn't been able to furnish anything credible against JuD except rants. Even US couldn't find anything against JuD. I remember the live reporting of mumbai when Indian authorities were being shown capturing boats, mobiles and stuff and associating them to Pakistan and LeT but nothing came out subsequently except only the word of mouth from Kasab (oral confession has little legal significance under any law) which too keeps changing. Even the recent Abu Jandal Drama was an epic fail since he also couldn't furnish any solid evidence except oral confessions. These people are good at making noise which often goes without notice now since global community knows that Indians try to hide their internal incompetence with ranting against Pakistan.

really??then tell me why they banned JUD???Indian Ranting may be...

for Pakistan,there never will be enough proof against Terrorists..confession,audio proof,nationality proof...nothing matters for Pakistan..but for rest of the world...it matters..see,we took strong action against terrorist and at least we prevailed them.but its Pakistan's state policy,that will be the reason of their doom..its not us,who are suffering most,its your country where bomb blasts are more than a daily routine.

but it doesn't matter at all,as whole world knows who are behind this..we proved our point..USA,the EU,Australia,Russia banned this organisation..we don't need Pakistan's approval on who is terrorist and who is not..

 

[REHAN NIAZI FALCON]

what about bal thakre ......... isn't he a terrorist ....... so why indians support him

 

[Hyde]

So u want to that:

1. The JUD is banned as a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia, Australia and India.

2. The United Nations declared Jama'at-ud-Da'wah a terrorist organization and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist.

Is it without proof ????????

3. UN, US, EU, Russia, Australia, India and UK have banned JUD without any reason???????????

4. Pakistan have more credibility then UN, US, EU, Russia, Australia, India and UK????

Yep everything was without proof, in fact America itself claimed it had no proof against Hafiz Saeed and while announcing a bounty of 10 million dollars they made it clear that anybody who can come ahead and give us any proof against him will get the bounty.

So whomsoever banned the organisation has done so without any proof. Pakistan itself has always claimed that you give us the proof (if you have any) and we arrest him tomorrow

 

[RazorMC]

So u want to that:

1. The JUD is banned as a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia, Australia and India.

2. The United Nations declared Jama'at-ud-Da'wah a terrorist organization and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist.

Is it without proof ????????

3. UN, US, EU, Russia, Australia, India and UK have banned JUD without any reason???????????

4. Pakistan have more credibility then UN, US, EU, Russia, Australia, India and UK????

LOL. Look at the desperation.

In point 1, this member names India twice. What are you trying to do; add more population to your claims?

And last time I checked, the UK was part of the European Union. There's no excuse to mention them separately. Unless you're still trying to add more people to your equation.

Points 3 and 4 are the same question written in different ways.

As far as credibility goes, try proving your accusations against individuals. Till then, as the saying goes: "Innocent until proven guilty"

And a quick reminder to PDF members that a certain "political" party carried out a massive hate-program involving smashing the windows of non-Maratha taxi drivers and attacking non-Marathas esp. on trains. The same party openly speaks against the Muslim community with a hint of violence.

Terrorism is not limited to killing people, it also includes using violence, threatening and assaulting people to intimidate them. So this "political" party should also be considered a terrorist organisation.

 

[khail007]

If indians think, that only in result of their hauling, crying and ranting, someone will be declared terrorist than they are miserably wrong. Indians tried but totally failed to produce/fabricate any credible evidence against JUD.

On the other hand, they have to clean their own house, terrorist like Col. Prohit and Narinder Modi are enjoying freedom of terrorism in their own country under the banner of BJP and Shivsena.

Government machinery kidnapping and killing muslim students (Ishrat Jahan encounter case) by claiming they are terrorist of LeT(and now Indians are suffering from JUD fobea), such cases are the actual truth behind Indians and their government's ranting and whining.

Indians should understand that such false accusations will never going to help them, truth always prevails.

 

[Rank]

***** mera to India and UN! GOOD going JUD! Pakistani not even consider ***

who kill one Indian become WORLD WIDE TERRORIST LOL @ Indian ***** logic... Shev Cena and who did Samjohata Xpress was belong to wellfare org oh ya **** Indians!

 

[notsuperstitious]

One more feather in frontline state pakistan's war of terrorism.

 

[K-Xeroid]

Seems funny when indian members feel an unusal guilty on Pakistan's issue instead of feeling same for their own internal ones.
I guess first they need to get aware that their own government had never shown sincerity in providing evidences, The best they have done is to pressurize U.S to find evidences against JuD. but still they haven't shown any such grief on their government's failures. I think this also needs to be discussed but as usual Bharti members are well known for discussing selective piece .