Punjab Govt funded outfits on UN terror blacklist: report
Punjab provincial government has allegedly given nearly one million dollars to institutions linked to a banned charity.
Punjab provincial government has allegedly given nearly one million dollars to institutions linked to a banned charity on a UN terror blacklist, a document has revealed.
It gave Rs79.7 million (936,240 dollars) to schools, a mosque, hospital and other health facilities built on a campus just north of Lahore at Muridke, said a budget document presented in the Punjab assembly this week.
Another Rs3 million (35,207 dollars) were given to schools run by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which was put on the UN terror blacklist in December 2008 and is considered a front for the militant group blamed over the Mumbai attacks.
The Punjab government denied giving any money to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, saying it had taken control of the institutions after the charity was banned in 2008.
The revelations could raise fresh concerns about the charity just weeks after the Supreme Court quashed an appeal against the release from house arrest of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
"These are now in control and run by the Punjab government," Pervez Rasheed, a spokesman for Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, told AFP.
"These grants were issued to run these social welfare projects including schools, hospitals and other institutions. People were benefiting from these facilities and that's why we decided to continue them. "We have no sympathies with Jamaat-ud-Dawa. If we had closed all these institutions it would have been detrimental and might have given a boost to Hafiz Saeed. So we did all this for the people of the province," said Rasheed.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa denied receiving any funds from the Punjab government.
"We have not received any grant," spokesman Yahya Mujahid told AFP. "The government has appointed an administrator and caretakers for the schools and other institutions, but the rest of the staff are the same, they are our people," the spokesman said.
One of Pakistan's biggest charities, Dawa is known for its relief work after the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir. It denies all terror accusations. Despite being banned, the charity organises public rallies and runs offices across Pakistan under the name Tanzeem Falah-e-Insaniyat (organisation for the welfare of humanity).
Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant faction blamed for the Mumbai attacks, but reportedly abandoned the faction when it was outlawed in Pakistan after India accused the group over the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.
It gave Rs79.7 million (936,240 dollars) to schools, a mosque, hospital and other health facilities built on a campus just north of Lahore at Muridke, said a budget document presented in the Punjab assembly this week.
Another Rs3 million (35,207 dollars) were given to schools run by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which was put on the UN terror blacklist in December 2008 and is considered a front for the militant group blamed over the Mumbai attacks.
The Punjab government denied giving any money to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, saying it had taken control of the institutions after the charity was banned in 2008.
The revelations could raise fresh concerns about the charity just weeks after the Supreme Court quashed an appeal against the release from house arrest of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
"These are now in control and run by the Punjab government," Pervez Rasheed, a spokesman for Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, told AFP.
"These grants were issued to run these social welfare projects including schools, hospitals and other institutions. People were benefiting from these facilities and that's why we decided to continue them. "We have no sympathies with Jamaat-ud-Dawa. If we had closed all these institutions it would have been detrimental and might have given a boost to Hafiz Saeed. So we did all this for the people of the province," said Rasheed.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa denied receiving any funds from the Punjab government.
"We have not received any grant," spokesman Yahya Mujahid told AFP. "The government has appointed an administrator and caretakers for the schools and other institutions, but the rest of the staff are the same, they are our people," the spokesman said.
One of Pakistan's biggest charities, Dawa is known for its relief work after the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir. It denies all terror accusations. Despite being banned, the charity organises public rallies and runs offices across Pakistan under the name Tanzeem Falah-e-Insaniyat (organisation for the welfare of humanity).
Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant faction blamed for the Mumbai attacks, but reportedly abandoned the faction when it was outlawed in Pakistan after India accused the group over the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.