.Pakistan charity under suspicion in India attacks
MURIDKE, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's vow to crack down on militants behind the Mumbai attacks may meet an early test with the Islamist charity accused by the U.S. of being the front group for the prime suspects.
Washington and India view Jamaat-ud-Dawa as the successor to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant organization that India says trained the 10 gunmen who killed 171 people in India's commercial capital.
But a concerted move against Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which insists it only runs schools and clinics and provides emergency relief to disaster victims, risks a backlash from conservatives in Muslim Pakistan that could destabilize the country's shaky pro-Western government.
The charity, under intense media scrutiny since India blamed the Mumbai slaughter on Lashkar-e-Taiba, invited reporters to its sprawling headquarters on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday to stress it had cut its ties.
"It is true we had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba in the past, but please remember, the past is the past," said spokesman Abdullah Muntazir. "We are the victim of baseless Indian propaganda; we are not involved in attacks in India, we are just doing welfare work and nothing else."
Indian authorities have named two alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil, as prime suspects in the Mumbai attacks.
Muntazir said the men were "fighting in Indian-occupied Kashmir," but urged reporters to contact Lashkar-e-Taiba directly for more information on the pair.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is believed to have been created with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency in the 1980s to fight Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region. It was banned in 2002 by Islamabad amid U.S pressure after New Delhi linked it to an attack on its parliament that helped pushed the nuclear-armed neighbors close to war.
Soon after the ban, Lashkar-e-Taiba changed its name to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, according to the U.S. State Department, which in 2006 listed it as a terrorist organization and blocked its assets.
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, considered the founder of both groups, was placed under house arrest at least twice by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to stop him from making incendiary speeches, though he wasn't charged with a crime.
Saeed now heads Jamaat-ud-Dawa, though U.S. authorities in May described him as the overall leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba and said he had personally helped insurgents going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The charity publicly denounces the killing of civilians but makes no secret of its backing of groups suspected in terrorist attacks in India as well as those fighting in Kashmir - the disputed region over which largely Hindu India and Pakistan have fought two wars. The divided Himalayan region is mostly Muslim, and the fate of those who live under Indian rule remains a celebrated cause in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
After his release in 2002 from nine months of house arrest, Saeed vowed to continue providing "physical support" to militants in Kashmir and said every Muslim was obliged to wage holy war in the territory.
He has vocally opposed peace talks with India and denounced the U.S.-led war on terror as a war on Islam in a November posting on the group's Web site.
And while it denies ties to militants, suspicions remain that the charity may be channeling some of its followers toward Lashkar-e-Taiba, which U.S. commanders say has also begun attacking their forces in Afghanistan.
"I think they are still recruiting the people and their support base is expanding," said Mohammed Amir Rana, who heads the Islamabad-based Institute for Peace Studies, which tracks militant groups in Pakistan. "The manpower might be going toward Lashkar-e-Taiba."
Still, he said the government risked inciting Muslim anger by targeting it.
"Jamaat-ud-Dawa are very careful and tactical. They will try to put pressure on the government through demonstrations, which might turn violent. They will lobby the mainstream parties and also in other Muslim countries," Rana said. "The government will face a lot of criticism."
Experts say Lashkar-e-Taiba and associated groups received funding from sympathizers in the Middle East during the 1990s, which they invested in large landholdings across Pakistan. Since the ban, Rana said mainstream politicians have been regular speakers at Jamaat-ud-Dawa's rallies, a sign of it power and influence.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa played a prominent role in helping survivors of a massive earthquake in 2005 that hit Pakistani Kashmir, killing 71,000 people. It has since built 5,000 homes, 39 schools and 59 mosques there, according to its Web site.
The group's headquarters has two schools, a hospital, a swimming pool and many acres of wheat and rice crops. The buildings were freshly whitewashed, apparently for the benefit of the visiting reporters.
A sticker on the door of one of the mostly run-down classrooms showed the organization's militant streak: "One should be prepared to die for the holy prophet," it read.
Inside, 13-year-old student Abdul Basit said he received regular lessons as well as religious studies, including about "the importance of jihad," or holy war.
When asked to elaborate, the boy looked toward his teacher, who signaled with his hands to stop him talking.
Pakistan has not said it plans to target Jamaat-ud-Dawa but any move to dismantle the network would likely please India and the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Pakistani leaders on Thursday to press for action.
"I found a Pakistani leadership that understands the importance ... of rounding up whoever perpetrated this attack from wherever it was perpetrated, whatever its sources, wherever the leads go," Rice said.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa has demonstrated some nimble political footwork that has cemented its links with other conservative groups.
In 2006, it led a rally of 20,000 people in Lahore against the publication in Denmark and other European countries of cartoons of Islam's holy prophet.
Saeed appeared on stage at that rally with Hamid Gul, a former head of the Inter Services Intelligence agency and renowned Islamist.
Pakistan's largest Islamist party warned the government not to target Saeed and his charity "to appease America and on pressure from India."
"If they do it, they will have to face protests from people at home," said Ameerul Azim, a spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami. "We have always backed those who support jihad and work for the cause of Islam, and our party would continue to do it in the future as well."
MyWay
Washington and India view Jamaat-ud-Dawa as the successor to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant organization that India says trained the 10 gunmen who killed 171 people in India's commercial capital.
But a concerted move against Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which insists it only runs schools and clinics and provides emergency relief to disaster victims, risks a backlash from conservatives in Muslim Pakistan that could destabilize the country's shaky pro-Western government.
The charity, under intense media scrutiny since India blamed the Mumbai slaughter on Lashkar-e-Taiba, invited reporters to its sprawling headquarters on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday to stress it had cut its ties.
"It is true we had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba in the past, but please remember, the past is the past," said spokesman Abdullah Muntazir. "We are the victim of baseless Indian propaganda; we are not involved in attacks in India, we are just doing welfare work and nothing else."
Indian authorities have named two alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil, as prime suspects in the Mumbai attacks.
Muntazir said the men were "fighting in Indian-occupied Kashmir," but urged reporters to contact Lashkar-e-Taiba directly for more information on the pair.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is believed to have been created with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency in the 1980s to fight Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region. It was banned in 2002 by Islamabad amid U.S pressure after New Delhi linked it to an attack on its parliament that helped pushed the nuclear-armed neighbors close to war.
Soon after the ban, Lashkar-e-Taiba changed its name to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, according to the U.S. State Department, which in 2006 listed it as a terrorist organization and blocked its assets.
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, considered the founder of both groups, was placed under house arrest at least twice by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to stop him from making incendiary speeches, though he wasn't charged with a crime.
Saeed now heads Jamaat-ud-Dawa, though U.S. authorities in May described him as the overall leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba and said he had personally helped insurgents going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The charity publicly denounces the killing of civilians but makes no secret of its backing of groups suspected in terrorist attacks in India as well as those fighting in Kashmir - the disputed region over which largely Hindu India and Pakistan have fought two wars. The divided Himalayan region is mostly Muslim, and the fate of those who live under Indian rule remains a celebrated cause in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
After his release in 2002 from nine months of house arrest, Saeed vowed to continue providing "physical support" to militants in Kashmir and said every Muslim was obliged to wage holy war in the territory.
He has vocally opposed peace talks with India and denounced the U.S.-led war on terror as a war on Islam in a November posting on the group's Web site.
And while it denies ties to militants, suspicions remain that the charity may be channeling some of its followers toward Lashkar-e-Taiba, which U.S. commanders say has also begun attacking their forces in Afghanistan.
"I think they are still recruiting the people and their support base is expanding," said Mohammed Amir Rana, who heads the Islamabad-based Institute for Peace Studies, which tracks militant groups in Pakistan. "The manpower might be going toward Lashkar-e-Taiba."
Still, he said the government risked inciting Muslim anger by targeting it.
"Jamaat-ud-Dawa are very careful and tactical. They will try to put pressure on the government through demonstrations, which might turn violent. They will lobby the mainstream parties and also in other Muslim countries," Rana said. "The government will face a lot of criticism."
Experts say Lashkar-e-Taiba and associated groups received funding from sympathizers in the Middle East during the 1990s, which they invested in large landholdings across Pakistan. Since the ban, Rana said mainstream politicians have been regular speakers at Jamaat-ud-Dawa's rallies, a sign of it power and influence.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa played a prominent role in helping survivors of a massive earthquake in 2005 that hit Pakistani Kashmir, killing 71,000 people. It has since built 5,000 homes, 39 schools and 59 mosques there, according to its Web site.
The group's headquarters has two schools, a hospital, a swimming pool and many acres of wheat and rice crops. The buildings were freshly whitewashed, apparently for the benefit of the visiting reporters.
A sticker on the door of one of the mostly run-down classrooms showed the organization's militant streak: "One should be prepared to die for the holy prophet," it read.
Inside, 13-year-old student Abdul Basit said he received regular lessons as well as religious studies, including about "the importance of jihad," or holy war.
When asked to elaborate, the boy looked toward his teacher, who signaled with his hands to stop him talking.
Pakistan has not said it plans to target Jamaat-ud-Dawa but any move to dismantle the network would likely please India and the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Pakistani leaders on Thursday to press for action.
"I found a Pakistani leadership that understands the importance ... of rounding up whoever perpetrated this attack from wherever it was perpetrated, whatever its sources, wherever the leads go," Rice said.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa has demonstrated some nimble political footwork that has cemented its links with other conservative groups.
In 2006, it led a rally of 20,000 people in Lahore against the publication in Denmark and other European countries of cartoons of Islam's holy prophet.
Saeed appeared on stage at that rally with Hamid Gul, a former head of the Inter Services Intelligence agency and renowned Islamist.
Pakistan's largest Islamist party warned the government not to target Saeed and his charity "to appease America and on pressure from India."
"If they do it, they will have to face protests from people at home," said Ameerul Azim, a spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami. "We have always backed those who support jihad and work for the cause of Islam, and our party would continue to do it in the future as well."
MyWay
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