JuD’s official website still operational

ISLAMABAD: Amid repeated government claims that the bank accounts of Jamaatud Dawa have been frozen and the movement of its leaders has been restricted, the JuD is not only free to hold public rallies and collect donations, it also freely operates its official website - jamatdawa.org - to propagate its message and activities.
The JuD’s multi-lingual [English and Urdu] website flashes news and pictures about the activities of the outfit, the latest being the coverage of its January 23 countrywide rallies.
The lead story on the JuD website is titled “JuD not banned in Pakistan”, which quotes its spokesman Yahya Mujahid as saying that the recent restrictions imposed by Pakistan are a result of the US pressure which in fact wants to please the Indian government. He adds the issue of the UN Security Council’s ban on the JuD has already been settled in favour of Jamaatud Dawa by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court.
“They have explicitly and unequivocally cleared the organization, declaring that it was free to continue philanthropic and relief activities inside Pakistan.
Therefore, Yahya Mujahid makes it clear that the Jamaat and its welfare wing – Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) - would continue to carry on with their relief activities and Islamic propagation in Pakistan.
The JuD websites also contain invitations to follow the JuD, its ameer, Hafiz Saeed, and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation on Micro-blogging site - twitter. The previous twitter account of JuD ameer (@HafizSaeedJUD) was suspended by the twitter management in the first week of December 2014 for violating its policies, following pressure from the United States. This prompted the IT wing of the JuD to create a new twitter account of Saeed (@Hafiz SaeedJUD01).
The twitter account of JuD shows 668 followers and two Facebook fans. But the twitter management has neither suspended the new account of Saeed nor that of the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
While the JuD was sanctioned by UN Security Council on December 11, 2008 after the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the FIF was added to its list of the banned organization by UNSC on November 24, 2010, after it was found that the JuD was operating under name. The JuD and the FIF are on the watch list of the Pakistani Ministry of Interior which is the last step before a ban is clamped.
In some of his latest tweets on his twitter account, Hafiz Saeed has condoled the death of King Abdullah, besides stating that the JuD was a symbol of Muslim Ummah’s unity, a force that is beyond sectarianism which would vigorously defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Another tweet reads: “Enmity of Kufr is not with us, it is with Islam. If they think they can silence us and impose their narrative, then they have already lost”.
Another tweet states: “The Muslim governments should make their own global, economic, military and political alliance to defend the rights of Muslim world”. Yet another tweet reads: “India cannot hide behind condemnation. RAW’s links with the Afghan intelligence are well-known, who are sheltering the ‘Khawarij’ to carry out attacks inside Pakistan”.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said on January 23 in New Delhi that there was no ban on the JuD, but its accounts had been frozen and movement of its leaders restricted, as per the United Nations resolution.
“We are proceeding strictly in accordance with the UN resolution. But the UN resolution does not state that individuals like Hafiz Saeed be locked up. Stating that there are no two views about implementation of the UN resolution, Basit said: “Pakistan is now moving ahead without any distinction when it comes to terrorism. We are firmly moving against all organisations that come under the purview.”
In reality, however, Saeed, his Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation continue to operate freely across Pakistan, without facing any kind of restrictions, even though the federal government has banned their public activities.
Hafiz Saeed not only regularly delivers his Friday sermon at Jamia Qadsia at Chauburji Chowk Lahore, he is free to travel across Pakistan, hold rallies and deliver speeches.
He was allowed only recently to hold the annual congregation of the JuD at the Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore on December 14, 2014.
Interestingly, Hafiz Saeed literally came to Minar-e-Pakistan seated on a horseback. In his address, the JuD ameer said: “If India was not willing to give the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistan government was justified in helping them. Jehad is the only option to liberate Kashmir from India. Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan as declared by Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Therefore, it is justified to wage Ghazwa-e-Hind to liberate Kashmir from the clutches of Indian security forces.
The day the JuD convention was held in Lahore, an army base in Jammu and Kashmir was attacked by militants, killing 20 Indian soldiers. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by Lashkar-e-Toiba. However, according to Yahya Mujahid, the JuD has nothing to do with the LeT which is a Kashmir-based militant group while the Jamaat is a purely Islamic welfare organisation which does charity work.
Security analysts believe that the JuD has spread its tentacles to an extent that it seems quite hard for the government to either include it in the list of the banned organizations or impose any other restrictions on the outfit to contain its activities.
The sudden increase in the JuD activities across Pakistan, especially when the United States is pressuring Pakistan to proceed against the outfit, clearly indicates how difficult it will be for the government to move beyond words.