Ban flouted: Jamaatud Dawa holds mass rally in defiance of govt ban

Police provide protection to hundreds of JuD supporters.

LAHORE:

The Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and its offshoot Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) continue to operate in the city although the government has recently banned them.

The JuD continues to raise funds and run its ambulance services; its leaders and activists are also moving freely. The outfit’s flags are still seen waving atop several buildings across the city days after the Interior Ministry banned the outfit and 10 other organisations.

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed led Friday prayers and delivered a fiery sermon followed by a protest by hundreds of his supporters on Lake Road near Chauburji Chowk.

Saeed delivered a speech against India, America, Israel and France. He also condemned the government of Pakistan for freezing his bank account and for banning the JuD and the FIF. Instead of taking action against the protesters, police provided them security.

JuD activities

The JuD has set up 15 ambulance booths in the city and its suburbs, including Muridke and Rachna Town. The booths are located at Shahdara Chowk, Iqbal Town’s Moon Market, Gulshan-i-Ravi, Defence’s Main Boulevard, Model Town, Khokhar Chowk in Johar Town, Wapda Town, Liberty Chowk, Raiwind, The Mall, Bedian Road and Walton Road.

As many as 31 FIF ambulances are operated from these booths. Most of the booths have been established over the last two months. Two such centres have been set up in Lahore after the December 16 terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar.

The JuD continues to run a campaign to raise funds that it said would be spent on the welfare of the victims of a famine in Tharparkar.

To attract donors, the JuD has installed banners and hoardings at its ambulance camps and at Markaz Al-Qadsia, its headquarters at Chauburji.

Donation boxes that the FIF had placed at several general stores are still there. The JuD had also donated fans for the Kot Lakhpat jail and installed sheds for visitors in front of Camp Jail. It has also arranged a camel cart to take visitors from the entrance of the Kot Lakhpat jail to its main building.

“We have not received any instruction to act against the JuD and the FIF after they were banned,” an SP in Lahore told The Express Tribune. “We have not received any directive to even restrict the movement of JuD leaders,” said the SP who did not want to be named.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.