Pak’s Punjab Govt Provided Funds to JuD after 26/11

The government of Pakistan’s Punjab province granted funds worth Rs 8.27 crore to Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its allied institutions during the last fiscal year, said media reports citing official documents.

According to the supplementary budget for the past fiscal tabled in the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N-led provincial government granted more than Rs 7.9 crore to the Markaz-e-Tayyaba, the JuD headquarters in Muridke near Lahore, reports said.

The official documents revealed that another Rs 30 lakh was given as grants to schools run by the JuD in different districts of Punjab, said reports.

Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, under a cloud for his links to banned groups like the Sipah-e-Sahaba, admitted that the money had been given to the JuD, reports said.

Talking to a news channel yesterday, he said that the money was provided to these outfits after the JuD was ‘banned’ following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the Punjab government appointed an administrator for the organization, said reports.

He said that these grants were aimed at continuing welfare services provided by JuD’s schools, dispensaries and hospitals, reports said.

The UN Security Council declared the JuD a front for the banned Lashker-e-Toiba shortly after the Mumbai attacks.

Despite claims by Pakistani leaders that the JuD has been ‘banned’, no formal notification has been issued by the federal government to proscribe the organisation.

Meanwhile, a Punjab government spokesman has contended that the grants for the JuD had been given to the administrator for continuing welfare services.

In a statement, the spokesman said that a syllabus approved by the government had been adopted in the JuD’s educational institutions, said reports.

JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid claimed that his organisation had not received any money from the provincial government, said reports.

“We are a welfare organisation and raise our own funds from the public for providing educational and healthcare services to help the people,” he was quoted as saying.

He also snubbed the provincial minister for making a ‘false statement’ to the media about the Punjab government giving money to the JuD and its institutions.

(Based on internet reports)