Seized, but not ceased: Banned charities pose challenge for Pakistan

RAWALPINDI/MURIDKE, Pakistan (Reuters) - The vast network of Islamist charities taken over last week by Pakistan's government includes a horse-breeding stable, a fleet of 4x4 trucks, a swimming academy, martial arts classes and tens of thousands of staff and volunteers.

Islamabad hopes that by seizing control of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) charities, which the United States says are terrorist fronts, it can stave off being included this week on a global watchlist of country's deemed to be doing too little to curb militant financing.

But the sheer scale and diversity of the charities founded by Hafiz Saeed, who is designated a terrorist by the United Nations, shows how difficult it will be for the government to even run the network, let alone track and take control of all their sources of income and funding.

Reuters visited three of JuD's main facilities - protected by close-circuit TV cameras, huge iron gates and stout-built, bearded guards - including a sprawling 200-acre headquarters in Muridke just outside the eastern city of Lahore.

A few government representatives were on site and new signs hung to rename the facilities, but little else appeared to have changed since the government announced it was banning the charities on Feb. 14.

Officials said they have not yet drawn up plans on how to run the network, which includes more than 300 seminaries, schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services.

Source: Yahoo News