We Are Not Concerned by UNSC Ban: Jamaat-ud-Dawa

Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 4:07 pm

We Are Not Concerned by UNSC Ban: Jamaat ud Dawa Islamabad: Branded a terrorist outfit by the UN, Jamaat-ud-Dawa Thursday sought to put up a defiant stance, claiming that it was not concerned by the international clampdown and would carry on with its activities.

Reacting to the ban imposed by the UN Security Council by a unanimous decision, Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, chief of the Jamaat in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said, “We don’t take permission from the UN or the Security Council for carrying out our activities”.

He claimed his group was not involved in the Mumbai carnage but said his organisation would admit its mistakes provided it was proved that it was in any way linked to the attacks, which left a trail of death and destruction.

“We are not concerned by restrictions imposed by the UN. We don’t take permission from the UN or the Security Council for carrying out our activities,” Alvi said hours after Security Council proscribed the Jamaat, a front for the LeT.

Four top leaders of LeT, including its founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, have also been labelled as terrorists subject to sanctions.

Alvi repeatedly said the Jamaat was “not concerned” about the UN restrictions, which he claimed were imposed without evidence.

“We are saddened by the Mumbai attacks but we are not involved in such acts which lead to the murder of innocent people,” he said.

“Our country is a member of the UN and if there are restrictions and if they act according to the law, then it’s alright. If it is proved that we have done anything, we will admit it,” he added.

Referring to the links between the Jamaat and the LeT, Alvi said “there was a time when everyone had links with the LeT”. These links helped the LeT to establish itself in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Alvi also claimed the Jamaat was in existence before a ban was imposed on the LeT by the Pakistan government in 2001.

At present, the Jamaat did not have any links with the LeT, he said, claiming the Lashkar had no camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Referring to Sunday’s operation by security forces near Muzaffarabad that resulted in the capture of LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, Alvi claimed the troops had raided a madrassa.

Alvi also said he did not know who was arrested during the operation.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said top LeT terrorist Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, a communications expert, were among those arrested during the crackdown.

Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar too has been detained.

Pakistan has pledged to act if the UN designates the Jamaat-ud-Dawah a terrorist organisation.

The Jamaat was formed by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed after the Let was banned by the Pakistan government following the attack on India’s Parliament.

Speaking to a television news channel before the UN Security Council imposed restrictions on the Jamaat, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed said the allegations levelled by India against his group at the UN were “baseless and unfounded”.

JuD chief denies meeting surviving Mumbai attacker

Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has claimed that he had never met Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone surviving Mumbai terror attacker.

In a television interview, the founder of the JuD, the front organisation of the LeT, said he had never met or seen Iman.

His claims run contrary to those made by Iman, who confessed that a group of ten terrorists who carried out the Mumbai massacre were given a “motivational speech” by Saeed before embarking on their terror mission.

Trying to distance himself from the Mumbai carnage, Saeed told Geo News, “it is wrong to kill innocent people or carry out suicide attacks”.

The remarks appear ironical as radical Islamic groups like al Qaeda and LeT are the outfits responsible for carrying out suicide attacks in Afghanistan and other areas.

Saeed sought to dismiss JuD and LeT’s role in Mumbai attacks as “one-sided propaganda”.

The chief of the banned JuD also dismissed Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s contention that all leaders of the LeT had joined the Jamaat.

“There is no member of the LeT in the Jamaat-ud-Dawah. I was never a leader of LeT and even the (Lahore) High Court ruled there was no evidence of my links to LeT,” he claimed.

We Are Not Concerned by UNSC Ban: Jamaat-ud-Dawa

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