Islamabad: Pakistan government on Sunday took over the sprawling headquarters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a front oganisation of the LeT blamed from the Mumbai attacks, near Lahore amid tight security.
Khakan Babar, recently appointed by the government of Pakistan's Punjab province as the Chief Administrator, took over the JuD's Markaz-e-Taiba headquarters at Muridke, about 30 kms from Lahore.
The process was completed in the presence of Lahore's Commissioner, the district police chief, an official of the Auqaf or religious affairs department and a police contingent. Babar will supervise and monitor all activities at the JuD's headquarters, Dawn News channel reported.
Babar, his eight-member staff and about a dozen policemen will be housed in the Markaz-e-Taiba complex that includes a school, a college and a hospital.
A spokesman for the Markaz-e-Taiba described the appointment of the administrator as a "takeover" done under international pressure.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik has said the JuD was banned shortly after the UN Security Council declared it a front for the Lashkar-e-Toiba in December last year.
However, diplomatic sources told PTI that the Pakistan government had not yet issued any formal notification banning the group.
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