Pakistan has placed under watch Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), even as it claims that it is a charity organisation not connected with terrorism. Pakistan has protested the US charges against JUD and Saeed has repeatedly alleged that the US was doing so “under India’s pressure,” calling it “a conspiracy against Islam”. President Pervez Musharraf has earlier gone on record that his government would not act against JUD, insisting that it is a charity organisation and not a front for the LeT. On his directives, however, JUD was placed “under watch” by the Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee that met here on Saturday, The News said on Sunday.Saeed, who was arrested earlier this month, has denied any connection with LeT, whose men India suspects were behind the terror blasts in Mumbai and numerous terror attacks in Kashmir, Kanpur, Varanasi and Aurangabad.
The Saturday meeting took “a number of decisions to fight extremism, sectarianism, the misuse of loudspeakers and take action against activists of banned organisations,” the newspaper said. Decision was also taken to take swift action against banned parties and organisations. Four hundred extremists were put on a watch list and six websites run by them would be closed down. They would be proceeded against under the Anti-Terrorist Act and detained for a year. However, their cases would be reviewed every three months. Also placed under watch is Sunni Tehrik, a radical body with headquarters in Karachi. Drawing its support and funds from the business communities of Memon, Khatri and Bohras, who migrated from western India when Pakistan was created, it has been involved in battles with other radical organisations.