Pakistan takes control of outlawed charity's headquarters

Jan 26, 2009, 5:44 GMT

   Islamabad - Pakistan has taken over the central facility of an outlawed Islamic charity believed to be linked with the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, media reports said on Monday.

   A government administrator, assisted by a team of around a dozen officers, on Sunday assumed control of the sprawling headquarters of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) in the town of Muridke in the eastern province of Punjab, the Dawn newspaper reported.

   Pakistan banned the JuD in December after the United Nations Security Council declared it a terrorist organization. It is believed a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organization, which India blamed for planning the Mumbai attacks that killed more the 170 people.

   The UN ban prompted Pakistan to seal off dozens of JuD offices and arrest several of its key leaders.

   Dawn quoted Javed Mehmood, a senior bureaucrat, as saying that the government administrator would oversee the affairs of the JuD's charitable educational institutions and health care facilities in Punjab province.

   The JuD facility, earlier known as Markaz-e-Taiba, was now functioning under the name of Jamaatul Tulaba, the newspaper said.

   The Muridke complex which spreads over 30 hectares houses a hospital, educational institutions, a seminary and dormitories.

   A police check post had also been set up outside the compound.

   Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik earlier this month said authorities had detained 71 people, including at least four top leaders of JuD and LeT, besides closing down five relief camps on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity.

   New Delhi is pushing Pakistan to crack down on the LeT and hand over the arrested suspects for judicial trial in India. However, Islamabad has ruled out the possibility of extradition, but committed unconditional support in taking action against the perpetrators.

   Tensions are running high between the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals, who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.