Pak orders survey of more JuD assets

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have ordered a survey for taking over more seminaries and healthcare units run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and to gather more information on the activities of the group, according to a media report on Saturday.

Several madrassas and other facilities run by the JuD and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, both linked to alleged 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, were taken over by authorities in Punjab province after Pakistan amended its antiterrorism law to include individuals and entities sanctioned by the UN Security Council in the list of proscribed groups.

The Punjab government directed the Rawalpindi district administration to conduct the survey and to seek information on the activities of the JuD from cantonment administrations, the Dawn newspaper reported.

However, there was no indication that the government planned to act against Saeed, whose arrest and prosecution has been demanded by the US. On Friday, Saeed attacked the Pakistan government and the US, saying: “Our rulers are making this country an American colony.”

The action against Saeed’s groups was taken ahead of a crucial plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), beginning in Paris on February 18, that will review Pakistan’s efforts to stop terror financing.

The Islamabad administration has presented a report to the federal government about JuD’s healthcare and education facilities which it has taken over. The Islamabad Capital Territory’s (ICT) administration has taken control of three JuD-run dispensaries and confiscated seven ambulances.

Islamabad deputy commissioner Mushtaq Ahmed said the administration had taken over facilities in Shareefabad, Ghouri Town and Quba Mosque at Sector I-8 in the capital. Ahmed said there was no seminary at JuD’s main centre in Sector I-8.