Lashkar-e-Taiba parent Jamaat-ud-Dawa flush with funds

LAHORE: Pakistan's Punjab province government has allocated over 61 million in its budget for fiscal 2013-14 for the largest centre of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent body of banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Besides a grant-in-aid of over 61 million for the JuD's centre known as ' Markaz-e-Taiba', the government has allocated 350 million for setting up a Knowledge Park at the centre and other development initiatives.

Details of the allocations were presented in budget documents tabled in the Punjab Assembly on Monday by the PML-N government led by chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. One document stated: "Grant-in-aid to chief administrator Muridkey Markaz (is) 61.35 million". The JuD's centre is located at Muridkay.

In his budget speech in the assembly, finance minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman announced that the provincial government "intends to establish a Knowledge Park in Muridkey".

He said the government had allocated 350 million for the park. and several other initiatives in Punjab.