The Hindu : National : Punjab government takes over JuD headquarters

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Punjab government takes over JuD headquarters

Nirupama Subramanian

Administrator appointed to run schools, medical facilities on premises
JuD headquarters renamed Punjab Welfare Institute

ISLAMABAD: The provincial government of Punjab in Pakistan has taken over the Muridke headquarters of the Jamat-ud-Dawah, appointing an administrator to run the schools and medical facilities on the premises, and renaming it Punjab Welfare Institute.

The Punjab government on Sunday named Khakan Babar, a senior official in the provincial government, as the chief administrator of the assets at the Markaz-e-Taiba, a sprawling facility located outside Lahore. He will report to the Lahore district commissioner.

Officials said the move, which came nearly two months after Pakistan announced a crackdown on the JuD following its designation by the United Nations Security Council as a terror group, was to ensure that the beneficiaries of its welfare activities would not suffer.

Charity group

The JuD, which the U.N. dubbed a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba that has been linked to the Mumbai attacks, is a registered charity group. In Pakistan, the action against the JuD prompted questions about the future of the students who studied free at its schools and patients who were treated, also free of cost, at its medical facilities.

“[The administrator’s] job is to ensure that the schools and dispensaries in Muridke can continue to function, and at the same time ensure that the other purposes for which it was being used don’t function,” said Pervaiz Rashid, an adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, making an indirect reference to the alleged militant training facilities on the premises.

Vast inventory

Mr. Rashid said while the Punjab government had sealed other offices of the JuD and taken over the running of several schools and dispensaries across the province as soon as the orders came from the federal government, the taking over of Muridke had been delayed because of its vast inventory.

“Because Muridke is a very big establishment, it took so many days to carry out the inventory. Now it has been taken over by Punjab government,” he told The Hindu.

Punjab government spokesman Mohyddin Ahmad Wani said a team of government officials led by the Lahore Commissioner had determined the number of students, teachers and other “human resources” at Muridke and had been working on the modalities of the takeover for the last several days.

“It’s no more the JuD centre. It has been renamed the Punjab Welfare Institute,” Mr. Wani said.

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