Daily Times

Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration on Monday reaffirmed to take action against proscribed organizations functioning while altering their original names.

While talking to Daily Times Deputy Commissioner of the territory Hamza Shafaq said that Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) are banned at national level. “They are banned and will not be allowed to work at any cost until the ban is removed by the government”, he claimed. The DC said that as per his information, no such outlets of these organizations were currently working in any part of ICT. When asked about his stance about functioning of such organization under other names, Shafaq responded that the administration will investigate that matter and if they are found working with other names, they would also be banned and punished under the prescribed legal provision.

Despite repeated attempts, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi was not available for comment. Even after the ban imposed on Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) by the government, the same are operating throughout Pakistan using new names. These two organizations have recently been banned again, as a part of the government’s other initiatives to accelerate anti-terrorism operations and re-establish the writ of the state. JuD and FIF have existed in Pakistan with other names before, most prominently Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Even today, they continue to operate merely by changing names.

According to a report published in Daily Times, offices of the JuD and FIF have been rebranded and repackaged; the banners outside have changed but the faces inside are the same.

The report stated that the management of these illegally constructed ‘outlets’ had no qualms that they were all, indeed, working for Hafiz Saeed and only changed the name due to the government’s weakness against foreign pressure. Some of the names that the proscribed organization has now started using includes ‘Al Madina’ and ‘Aisar Foundation’. The Daily Times Investigation report maintained that some of the operators at rebranded banned FIF ‘outlets’ expressed their feelings that the government and security apparatus were on their side, but all the stakeholders (including FIF and Hafiz Saeed) were making a compromise for the time being. The operators also showed hope that as soon as the current pressure subsides, FIF name will reappear on banners placed on the donation sites.

Published in Daily Times, February 26^th 2019.