U-turn: Pak says JuD not on watch list

Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) is under observation but not in a list of groups under official watch, a Pakistani parliamentary body was told here.

Foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry informed the Senate foreign affairs committee that government has only put JuD under observation. “Its welfare wing (Filah-e-Insaniat Foundation) is free to work,” he said.

The statement comes in the wake of the Pakistan government’s claim that FIF was under its watch list.

The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Nuzhat Sadiq, was also informed that Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), the predecessor of JuD, has been declared a proscribed organisation in Pakistan and will not be allowed to operate.

It may be recalled that almost 72 groups, including JuD and FIF, were banned from media coverage in Pakistan. The decision was challenged by the JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, the Mumbai attack mastermind, in the Lahore high court.

The UN listed FIF as a terrorist organisation in 2012. The foreign secretary said that under the UN obligation Pakistan is bound to take action against organisations that have been banned.

Following the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, the government banned LeT on January 14, 2002. After the proscription, the organisation continued to operate, first under the banner of JuD and then FIF.

However, under pressure from the UN, the government placed both JuD and FIF on its watch list in December 2008 and March 2012, respectively.

According to a circular issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), the “ministry of foreign affairs and ministry of interior, under the national action plan (NAP), have banned all kind of coverage of banned LeT under UN resolution 1267.”

The Pemra also attached a list of 60 banned organisations and 12 organisations which were on the watch list. According to the notification, Section 27 of the Pemra Act “prohibits broadcasting or re-broadcasting any programme which is likely to create hatred amongst the people or prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order or is likely to disturb public peace”.