The Hindu : Front Page : Jamaat-ud-Dawa defiant after terror charges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 16, 2006

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Jamaat-ud-Dawa defiant after terror charges

Praveen Swami

Lashkar-linked outfit's anti-West polemic intensifies after fund freeze

NEW DELHI: Jamaat-ud-Dawa cadre have initiated a vigorous mass mobilisation in response to charges that their Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked group funnelled funds to a group of British nationals who allegedly plotted to blow up at least 10 transatlantic flights.

On Monday, several hundred Jamaat-ud-Dawa protesters gathered outside the press club in Lahore to demonstrate their power on the occasion of Pakistan's Independence Day. Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, one of the Jamaat's top ideologues, reiterated his organisation's support for Islamist causes across the world, and claimed that the proscription of an earlier rally called for August 12 had been driven by "foreign forces."

According to reports in The New York Times, the Jamaat is suspected to have handled the funds used to purchase airline tickets for the transatlantic bombers. Quoting a former Pakistani official, the newspaper said that the funds were raised in the United Kingdom for Jamaat relief operations after the Kashmir earthquake in 2005. A part of the funds were also diverted for terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was placed under house arrest shortly before news of the transatlantic bomb plot broke. A Jamaat communiqué issued on August 13 recorded that Saeed's arrest was a "direct demand of the Indian Government" after the Mumbai serial bombings. While Jamaat cadre were angry, the communiqué said Mr. Saeed "ordered them to be patient and never create a law and order situation."

`No aid from abroad'

Jamaat-ud-Dawa polemic against the West had accelerated to the levels normally reserved for India after the United States froze funds intended for the organisation as well as an affiliate, the Idara Khidmat-i-Khalq, in April. Both organisations are thought to have raised funds in West Asia and Europe for earthquake relief, although the Jamaat officially insists it does not "receive any aid from abroad."

For example, an article published in the May issue of the Jamaat's house journal Voice of Islam used fictitious quotes attributed to U.S. President George Bush to attack that country's policies in Pakistan and West Asia. Mr. Bush, the article claimed, had told "his administration's key players and ambassadors of the Western countries" that "Islam is the religion of terrorism."

According to the article, Mr. Bush told high officials that Islam "supports terror campaign[s]" and "is the herald of violence." "How," it claimed Mr. Bush asked assembled officials, "can you have doubts about that when their Holy Book `Quran' orders Muslims to strike terror into the hearts of infidels by waging jihad? We will have to change the very shape of it [Quran and Islam]."

"Nasty plan"

Another Jamaat commentator argued that the U.S. "secret agencies and agents are busy targeting and bombing NWFP [North-West Frontier Province], Balochistan and the religious places in Pakistan with an aim to vilify religious factions and consequently to dismantle its sovereignty and strategic oil fields in Saudi Arabia with a nasty plan to take control of this precious resource of the Muslim World [sic]."

At a meeting in Lahore last month, Jamaat ideologue Nazeer Ahmad demanded that President Pervez Musharraf respond to these acts. Pakistan, Mr. Ahmad argued, needed to "make it clear to the world that Allah has commanded Muslims to prepare for War. Therefore, it cannot comply with the dictates of the United States, disregarding Allah's behest. Someone has to stand up to the infidels in the name of Allah."

Despite these express calls to violence, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri criticised the U.S. decision to act against the Jamaat and the Idara Khidmat-i-Khalq, asserting in an interview to The Hindu that he did "not agree with their assessments." He said the Jamaat "is doing charitable work."

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