Hundreds of members of hardline groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah on Friday joined protests across Pakistan against a controversial anti-Islam film, with many calling for severe punishment for the movie's makers and demanding the expulsion of American diplomats.
A constitutional petition has been filed in a Pakistani court seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for allegedly committing "high treason" by defying orders of the Supreme Court and attempting to subvert the Constitution.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed may face fresh detention after British diplomats met senior Pakistani officials to convince them to crack down on the organisation, a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Diplomats from the British missions in Islamabad and New Delhi had a "successful rounds of talks with Pakistani leaders in the last week of July".These talks "might lead to the detention of JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
A Pakistani court has issued a notice to the federal government on two petitions asking it to stop Yousuf Raza Gilani from holding the post of prime minister after his conviction while another court has dismissed a similar petition.
Saeed has pledged to tour the country to mobilise the people against any decision by the government to reopen the supply routes, which were closed after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
The case of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is an "internal issue" and any evidence against him should be provided to Pakistan so that the courts can take action, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah on Tuesday beefed up security at the residence of its chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed in the Pakistani city of Lahore after the US announced a 10-million dollar bounty for the man accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A Pakistani court has freed outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and his close aide Nazir Ahmed nearly six months after they were detained following the Mumbai terror attacks.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Thursday rubbished Pakistan governments efforts to improve relations with India, alleging that country had engaged in dialogue only to 'cause harm' to Pakistan and to sideline the Kashmir issue.
The Pakistan government honours the Supreme Court's decision upholding the release from house arrest of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed and Indian authorities should accord 'similar respect to the verdicts of Pakistani courts,' Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday.
An alliance of religious and extremist groups on Saturday said Pakistan should settle the Kashmir issue and differences over sharing river water before it normalises trade relations with India and gives it Most Favoured Nation-status. The Defence of Pakistan Council, which includes the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, made the demand in a joint declaration adopted at a meeting of the top leaders of the various groups.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed claimed that India wants to "weaken the freedom movement" in Jammu and Kashmir under the pretext of talks with Pakistan.
Outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed demanded "stern punishment" according to Pakistan's constitution for US official Raymond Davis, arrested for shooting and killing two men.
Members of extremist groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammed openly collected donations for the jihad against the US in Afghanistan on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr in Pakistan's Peshawar city, a media report said on Tuesday.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah has stepped up its use of the internet and social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to raise funds for its activities and to spread propaganda aimed at fomenting unrest in India.
Pakistan will fulfil international obligations regarding the designation of individuals and entities by the United Nations as terrorist, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
The annual military operations budget of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba is a whopping $5.2 million, according to a secret United States document, which gives details about the outfit's fund raising activities, some of which comes through Jamaat-ud-Dawah's charitable networks.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba's operations commander Zaki-ur- Rahman Lakhvi were running their terror groups while still in custody in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, said US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
Police have imposed restrictions on the movement of banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and barred him from leading Eid prayers at the Gaddafi Stadium.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday regretted that Home Secretary G K Pillai was not 'defended' by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna when he was 'openly castigated' by Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for his remarks that the Inter Services Intelligence had coordinated the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah on Monday described Pakistan's Indus Waters Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah as an 'Indian agent' after he dismissed the widespread impression that India is 'stealing' Pakistan's share of river waters. Senior JuD leader Abdul Rehman Makki chided Shah and said his statement had weakened the case of 180 million Pakistanis. "He (Shah) is trying to bail out India over the water issue and the people of Pakistan are not convinced," he said.
"We believe Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the LeT chief, is a khawarij (rebel) and needs to be punished under the law," secretary general of the Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadees, Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mehdi Salfi, said.
Spewing venom, leaders of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a banned group blamed for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, have vowed to convert Pakistan into a "Taliban state" and to train youths to wage jihad against the United States and India.
The NIA, which has been on the trail of American terror operative David Coleman Headley, had been hoping to piece together the terror jig-saw by gaining independent access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, who are alleged to have masterminded the Mumbai carnage.
Pakistani authorities have decided not to arrest Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed on the basis of new dossiers from India claiming that they do not contain "actionable intelligence", according to a media report.
India on Thursday handed over three dossiers to Pakistan, dealing with three different aspects of terrorism being bred in Pakistan.
Hundreds of activists and supporters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah terror group, linked to the Mumbai attacks, on Tuesday staged a demonstration outside the organisation's headquarters in Muridke to protest its takeover by the Pakistani authorities. Waving the Jamaat's black and white flag and carrying banners, the protestors disrupted traffic for some time on the Grant Trunk Road outside the Markaz-e-Taiba complex in Murdike, located about 30 km from the city of Lahore.
IB sources have told rediff.com that although the meeting was held under the guise of observing the Kashmir solidarity day, it was focussed at regrouping forces.
The government of Punjab province has decided not to close welfare organisations run by the Jamaat, which was declared a front for the Lashker-e-Tayiba terror group by the UN Security Council soon after the Mumbai attacks. The provincial government has appointed doctors in Jamaat dispensaries and decided to retain the old teaching staff in its schools, television channels reported.
Pakistani authorities have detained more than 60 leaders of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah though no evidence linking them to the Mumbai attacks has been found so far, the interior ministry said on Friday. Intelligence and security agencies have detained the Jamaat leaders, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, as part of the ongoing crackdown on the group designated as a terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council. Nothing incriminating has been found.
Authorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir released the four detained workers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's front organisation and also withdrew police guards posted at the home of the group's regional head, Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi.
Stepping up operations against terror groups, Pakistani security forces on Friday sealed more offices of the Lashker-e-Taiba's front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah across the country and reportedly rounded up dozens of its activists.The clampdown, which started after sundown on Thursday with the group's founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed being put under house arrest, continued today with JuD offices locked up in other parts of the country.
Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawah, declared by the United Nations Security Council as a front for Lashkar-e-Tayiba, on Friday claimed it is not a banned group and its offices across this country are operating normally as authorities have found "no evidence" linking it to terror or anti-state activities.
Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League and hard-line religious parties joined a rally in Islamabad organised by a front of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah, during which speakers called for a jihad to resolve the Kashmir issue. PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Samiul Haq and representatives of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference joined the rally organised by the Tehrik Azadi-e-Kashmir.
A Pakistani court on Monday admitted a petition filed by banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed challenging two cases registered against him by police under the Anti-Terrorism Act for inciting people to wage 'jehad'.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah has established an extensive network in Punjab province to collect funds and relief materials in the name of flood victims despite Pakistan government's contention that hardline groups will not be allowed to operate in garb of charitable organisations.
Under pressure from India and the United States to act against Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the mastermind of Mumbai terror attack, the Pakistani police today registered cases against him and one of his close aides Abu Jandal under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Conflicting claims were made on Wednesday about the visit of United States Agency for International Development's Indian-origin chief Rajiv Shah to a relief camp, run by a front organisation of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, in Pakistan's flood-hit Sindh province and his handing over of aid to it.
Continuing his anti-India rant, the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has now said that 'jihad' is the only way to free Jammu and Kashmir from the "Indian yoke". Saeed, who India blames for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, made the remarks while addressing a meeting of JuD workers at the Jamia Masjid Mukarram at Daska in Punjab province on Monday.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, has asked Pakistanis to seek "forgiveness" from God for their sins in the wake of the devastating floods across the country.