The Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a front organisation for LeT which carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is not included in a new list of 31 banned extremist and terrorist groups released by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry.
The Interior Ministry released the list of banned organisations on Saturday as part of efforts to bar such groups from collecting the hides of animals sacrificed during the Eid-ul-Azha festival.
Hundreds of hides collected every year by members of the groups are sold to raise funds.
Though the LeT was included in the new list, the JuD was not on it.
In the wake of the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, the UN Security Council had declared the JuD a front for the LeT.
After the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani leaders like Interior Minister Rehman Malik insisted that the JuD had been banned.
However, during a hearing in the Lahore High Court in 2009, a senior law officer admitted that no notification had been issued to ban the JuD.
The new list of banned groups includes Jaish-e-Mohammed and its front organisation Khuddam-ul-Islam, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and its front organisation Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Jaafria Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
Other groups on the list are Tehrik-e-Islami, Jamiat-ul-Ansar, Jamiat-ul-Furqan, Khair-un-Naas International Trust, Islamic Students Movement of Pakistan, Islami Tehreek Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam, Haji Namdar Group, Balochistan Liberation Army, Balochistan Republican Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Balochistan Liberation United Front and Balochistan Musallah Difa Tanzeem.
New additions to the list included People’s Aman Committee of Karachi, Shia Tulaba Action Committee of Gilgit, Markaz Sabeel Organisation of Gilgit and Tanzeem-e-Naujawanan-e-Sunnat of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Interior Ministry warned that any members of the banned groups found collecting animal hides during Eid-ul-Azha would be booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Members of the banned groups cannot assemble, maintain offices, continue their activities and operate bank accounts, an official statement said.
The Interior Ministry said all persons who want to collect hides will have to obtain permission from the district administration chiefs or district magistrates.
Traders involved in purchasing hides were directed to deal only with sellers who had permission from authorities to collect hides.
