New Delhi: India’s frustration over Pakistan’s lack of action against Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is only growing by the day with latest intelligence inputs suggesting that the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) head has moved an application to launch a social welfare trust in Lahore.
According to reliable inputs available with India, the now banned Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) — which has served as a front for the LeT — has initiated measures to register a society called Al Noor University (Trust) with its headquarters behind Masjid Toheed, 114-E Johar Town, Lahore.
The memorandum and rules and regulations of the trust state that Hafiz Mohammed Saeed will be the founder-member and first chairman. And interestingly, many among the 14 members of the Board of Governors are known JuD or LeT functionaries. Consider them:
Hafiz Abdul Rauf: The director of JuD’s public welfare wing, he has been named the trust’s general secretary.
Zafar Iqbal: He was director of JuD’s education wing and is going to be the trust’s joint secretary.
Hafiz Abdul Rehman: He was director of JuD’s Justice & Fatwa wing and has been given task of being the information secretary of the trust.
Ameer Hamza: A former editor of JuD publication Ghazwa, he is also a member of the trust.
This, for India, is a clear violation of the UN Taliban & Al Qaida Sanctions Committee’s decision to ban the JuD after the Mumbai terror attack. While the objectives of the trust are welfare-oriented, the same was the case with the JuD when it was floated following the ban on the LeT after the Parliament attack.
Already, the JuD has been working for rehabilitation of those displaced in Pakistan’s troubled western theatre under the banner of Falaah-I-Insaaniyat. This group is active alongside the Pakistan military and has access to camps manned by them.
This Al Noor University (trust), sources said, is different from the relatively better known Al-Noor trust that is also registered in Lahore. The slight change in name is being seen as an attempt to avoid any immediate detection. Just like the JuD, the objectives of this trust largely cover areas like education and health.
First Published: Sunday, January 31, 2010, 10:26