Islamabad: The Jamaat-ud-Dawah, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has taken the lead in arranging events to honour Osama bin Laden, organising funeral prayers for the al-Qaida chief in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi.
JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, described by Indian officials as the mastermind of the assault on Mumbai, himself led activists in offering funeral prayers in absentia for bin Laden at the group's headquarters in Lahore on Monday.
Hundreds of JuD activists and youths joined funeral prayers for bin Laden near the Motamar Al Alam Al Islami office on University Road in Karachi on Tuesday.
A similar event planned at the JuD's Masjid Quba in Sector I-8/4 in Islamabad on Tuesday was cancelled at the last minute, apparently due to the attention it had attracted .
Apart from few small protests in cities like Quetta, the funeral prayers arranged by the JuD were the largest events in Pakistan marking the death of the world s most wanted man.
The 'ghayabana namaz-e-janaza' in Lahore was arranged hours after news broke that bin Laden had been killed by US special forces during a raid near the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad. A large number of JuD workers gathered at Markaz Al-Qadsia for the prayers, during which Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, said Muslims should gain strength from the death of bin Laden as his "martyrdom" would not be in vain. Bin Laden made sacrifices for Muslims around the world and he would be remembered for long, Saeed said.
He said it was regrettable that Pakistan's rulers expressed "pleasure" at the death of bin Laden to please their "masters" in America.
Pakistan's rulers "should not invite the wrath of God" as bin Laden acted as a "spokesman of the people of Pakistan" and the whole nation was saddened by his death, Saeed claimed.
A JuD spokesman said Tuesday's event in Islamabad was cancelled as the imam who was to lead the prayers was indisposed. However, official sources said the JuD may have changed its plans due to the attention such an event would have attracted, especially at a time when the world media s attention is focussed on Pakistan. During yesterday's event in Karachi, participants, including madrassa students, pledged they would take part in 'jihad' or holy war in Kashmir. They hailed bin Laden as a hero and vowed to avenge his death.
"He was our leader, our guide, our hero," Tayyab Iqbal, who joined the prayers though he was not a JuD member, told The Express Tribune daily.
Mohammad Naeem, 13, who had a JuD flag wrapped around his shoulders, said: "Osama bin Laden was a great commander of Islam who fought many wars against the US and his biggest feat was 9/11." Speakers at the event, including JuD leader Naveed Qamar, said the funeral prayers demonstrated that bin Laden had score s of supporters.
Saeed, who claims he has no links to the LeT, was briefly detained in the wake of the Mumbai attacks but never formally charged by Pakistani authorities. US officials have said that the LeT, one of the largest and best-funded militant groups in Pakistan, has global aspirations. The UN Security Council has listed the JuD as a front for the LeT.
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