Jamaat-ud-Dawa reincarnates itself

NEW DELHI: Banned by the UN Security Council after Mumbai attacks, Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) has reincarnated itself under a new name to escape any restrictions on its activities, officials said on Thursday.

JuD, a front organisation of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, has apparently renamed itself as 'Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool' (Movement for defending the honour of God), sources said.

The JuD's move to rename itself is clearly aimed at avoiding curbs which Pakistan could be forced to apply on it because of UNSC sanctions of last December 11, they said.

The indication of JuD having changed its name came when senior cadres of the outfit organised a rally in Pakistan recently under the banner of Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool (THR), the sources said.

"We have come to know they (JuD) have started off in a new name," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told AIR, adding the website of the outfit is also still being updated.

In fact, JuD itself is a reincarnated version of LeT, coming into being after the latter was banned by the US seven years ago.

Formed in 1990 in Kunar province of Afghanistan, LeT does not believe in democracy and Saeed, its founder leader, has publicly declared it several times that 'jihad' is the "only way Pakistan can move towards dignity and prosperity".

India feels that Pakistan is using 'jihadis' as "one of the arms of diplomacy" and due to this reason, it is not taking any action except "tokenism" against JuD despite the UNSC ban imposed on December 11 in the wake of November 26 Mumbai attacks.