Terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is part of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, has renamed itself as ‘Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir’, days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest and a crackdown launched on the terror group’s activities. The Mumbai terror attack mastermind had indicated about a week before his arrest that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK).
It shows that Hafiz Saeed knew about the official plans and had already worked out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his ostensible terror network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).
Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events starting February 5. TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns in Pakistan.
The terror group is planning to hold a big conference about Jammu and Kashmir in Lahore tomorrow. The TAJK has reactivated its donations centres in different districts of Pakistan’s Punjab province, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities.
A police official said law enforcement agencies were keeping a close eye on the activities of Hafiz Saeed’s terror network and appropriate action would be taken.
“It is a sensitive issue and a measured response is needed to fulfill the international obligations of the country and deal with any possible fallout due to protest by followers of Saeed,” he said.
Various offices of both JuD and FIF were closed on Monday following the house arrest of Hafiz Saeed. Both organisations were also put on observation under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
The Pakistani government, had on Monday, placed terrorist Hafiz Saeed and his four accomplices — Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz — under house arrest in Lahore.
The Interior Ministry had also placed Hafiz Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving Pakistan.
