Proved: Lashkar-e-Taiba Is Not A Non-State Actor But A Government Body of Pakistan
New Age Islam Edit Desk
June 21, 2013
The news of budget allocation of Rs 61 millions to Lashkar-e-Taiba’s parent body Jamat-ud-Dawa by Punjab government of Pakistan has shocked India as Lashkar-e-Taiba was involved in 2008 Mumbai attacks and Parliament attack. Ajmal Quassab, the main accused in the attack was said to have received training at the Jamat-ud-Dawa’s Muridke centre called Markaz-e-Taiba which is a state of the art training centre of the banned organisation.
After the Mumbai attacks, the UN Security Council had imposed sanctions on JuD on December 11, 2008 and declared it a global terrorist organisation. The government of Pakistan also had to ban the organisation the same day. The government sealed all its offices in all the four provinces and the Pakistan army raided the centres of LeT and arrested more than 20 leaders and activists of LeT including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
The Jamaatud Dawa has its largest centre in Muridke, Punjab which is the seat of PML (N). PM Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif has been the Chief Minister of Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan since the PPP led Geelani government. Shahbaz Sharif owes his power to the influence of LeT and Jamat –ud-Dawa. In return, his government has been patronising LeT and JuD. In fact, this is not the first time that Shahbaz Sharif’s government has allocated millions of rupees to Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaatud Dawa. In the previous government too, it allocated even a greater sum of Rs 86 million of rupees for various projects of the JuD in the budget of 2010-11. A tender was also floated for an educational project of the Muridke centre of JuD where Ajmal Quassab reportedly received his training before setting out for India. (
Jamaatud Dawa was earlier known as Jamaatud Daw ail al Quran (JDQ). A Guantanamo Bay detainee Abdul Rahim had stated during interrogation that JDQ had a military wing and carried out assassinations.
But ironically, the CM of Punjab has been financially helping and giving protection to a banned terrorist organisation ignoring the policy of the federal government. The US government has also announced a reward of Rs 10 million for providing information and evidences against Hafiz Sayeed.
The copy of the tender is posted below:
Worse, the Punjab government justified its decision to fund JuD. It gave bizarre explanation for supporting and funding the banned organization. A spokesman of the Punjab government said that the government had taken over the administrative control of the organization complying with the Security Council resolutions of the United Nations to ensure that the organization could not continue its terror activities and the local people are not deprived of the facilities and opportunities provided by the government. On this pretext the Punjab government very cleverly appointed an administrator to control the administration of the JuD. In this way, the Shahbaz Sharif government actually became the patron of JuD giving it the status of a government undertaking. In 2011 it allocated Rs 86 million to it by making a Rs 100 million cut in the budget allocation for cultural, sports and health affairs. It speaks of the obsession of Punjab government with the well being and development of the infrastructure of JuD’s Muridke centre called Markaz-e-Taiba.
Apart from the allocation of Rs 61.35 million for the Markaz-e-Taiba, another Rs 350 million has been granted for a proposed ‘Knowledge Park’ spread over 88 Kanals of land in Muridke but the authorities claim that this park is an independent project of the Punjab government and has nothing to do with JuD.
But reports say that the JuD’s Muridke centre is still controlled by Lashkar-e-Taiba cadre and even government and media personnel are not allowed inside the complex without the prior permission of the LeT authorities.
After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Zardari government had said that the attacks had been carried out by non-state actors of Pakistan but later the Indian government proved that the attacks were orchestrated by the ISI, the Pakistani military and Lashkar-e-Taiba jointly. It presented documentary proofs of Pakistan’s involvement in the attacks following which the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on JuD compelling Pakistan government to crack down on the organizations and individuals involved in the attacks.
Therefore, the recent developments and evidences show that Lashkar-e-Taiba is not a non-state actor but very much a part of the Pakistan government being administered and funded by the Pakistan government through the Punjab government.
The Indian government, therefore, should take strong note of the development and take up the issue both with the Pakistan government and with the UN Security Council. With the news and the documentary evidences of Pakistani government’s official funding and patronage of JuD and LeT, Pakistan cannot escape the responsibility of the Mumbai attacks and other terrorist activities in India. It cannot fool India and the world any longer.