According to reliable inputs available with India, the now banned Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) — which has served as a front for the LeT — has initiated measures to register a society called Al Noor University (Trust) with its headquarters behind Masjid Toheed, 114-E Johar Town, Lahore.

The memorandum and rules and regulations of the trust state that Hafiz Mohammed Saeed will be the founder-member and first chairman. And interestingly, many among the 14 members of the Board of Governors are known JuD or LeT functionaries. Consider them:

Hafiz Abdul Rauf: The director of JuD’s public welfare wing, he has been named the trust’s general secretary.

Zafar Iqbal: He was director of JuD’s education wing and is going to be the trust’s joint secretary.

Hafiz Abdul Rehman: He was director of JuD’s Justice & Fatwa wing and has been given task of being the information secretary of the trust.

Ameer Hamza: A former editor of JuD publication Ghazwa, he is also a member of the trust.

This, for India, is a clear violation of the UN Taliban & Al Qaida Sanctions Committee’s decision to ban the JuD after the Mumbai terror attack. While the objectives of the trust are welfare-oriented, the same was the case with the JuD when it was floated following the ban on the LeT after the Parliament attack.

Already, the JuD has been working for rehabilitation of those displaced in Pakistan’s troubled western theatre under the banner of Falaah-I-Insaaniyat. This group is active alongside the Pakistan military and has access to camps manned by them.