Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08LAHORE326
2008-12-20 08:50:00
SECRET
Consulate Lahore
Cable title:  

PUNJAB SHUTS DOWN JUD ADMINISTRATION BUT KEEPS SERVICES

Tags:  PTER PREL PGOV PK IN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1515
OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHLH #0326/01 3550850
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O R 200850Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL LAHORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3863
INFO RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 0107
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0142
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0694
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 1634
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 5003
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 1950
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0120
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 4601
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0314
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 LAHORE 000326 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2018
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PK IN
SUBJECT: PUNJAB SHUTS DOWN JUD ADMINISTRATION BUT KEEPS SERVICES
OPEN

REF: A. LAHORE 323

B. LAHORE 325

C. LAHORE 318

CLASSIFIED BY: Bryan Hunt, Principal Officer, Consulate Lahore,
U.S. Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 LAHORE 000326

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2018
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PK IN
SUBJECT: PUNJAB SHUTS DOWN JUD ADMINISTRATION BUT KEEPS SERVICES
OPEN

REF: A. LAHORE 323

B. LAHORE 325

C. LAHORE 318

CLASSIFIED BY: Bryan Hunt, Principal Officer, Consulate Lahore,
U.S. Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: The Punjab provincial government has taken steps
to shut down JUD offices and take over the administrative
functioning of ten schools and 18 dispensaries while ensuring
that people continued to receive necessary services. Provincial
authorities related that they could easily handle the management
of these JUD facilities. An additional 17 JUD schools may be
taken over at a later date by provincial administrators. The
Home Secretary also noted that the Chief Minister has garnered
wide support from political parties and religious organizations
for the JUD shutdown. The provincial government's initial
takeover plan encompasses only a fraction of JUD schools in the
Punjab. It is unclear if or how the provincial government will
address the administration of the remaining JUD schools, which
number over 150. End Summary.

- - -
Home Secretary: JUD Shutdown Continues
- - -


2. (C) Punjab Home Secretary Nadeem Hasan Asif detailed December
18 that the provincial government has taken "administrative
control" over ten schools and 19 dispensaries previously run by
Jamaatud Dawa (JUD),and closed over 60 JUD offices. The
province aimed to "ensure that the common man continues to get
facilities while we exert authority to stop extremism," he
explained. Regarding the 17 remaining schools registered by JUD
that continue to function, he expected that the authorities will
continue to monitor those sites and left open the possibility of
a future takeover. He added that JUD has shut down one school
on its own. Poleconoff inquired about the hospitals that the
Health Secretary had learned were registered under a different
trust (see para 6). Asif thought that they had been
incorporated in the list of dispensaries. Asked about the large
JUD office, school and hospital in Muridke, Asif said that he
had asked them to "vacate and leave the premises," but he
admitted that he was "not sure of the ground position." The
Secretary shared that senior JUD leaders (details reported in

Ref C) remained under preventive detention but noted that no
additional senior leaders had been detained.

- - -
Politicians and Religious Leaders Convinced
- - -


3. (C) Asked whether the provincial government has felt
political pressure about the JUD crackdown, Asif reported that
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had recently gathered leaders of
various political parties and religious sects, including the
Ahl-e-Hadith, Jamiat-e-Ulema and Tehrik-i-Tehsin, to convince
them that the shutdown was necessary. Despite the "agitation"
in the meeting, Asif described, Shahbaz argued that "national
interest and obligations to the international community"
compelled him to close JUD. He had also assured the gathering
that "nothing illegal will be done," according to Asif.

- - -
Schools Secretary: Punjab Will Take Over Ten Schools
- - -


4. (C) Education Secretary (Schools) Nadeem Ashraf told
poleconoff December 17 that JUD schools have stayed open during
the crackdown on the organization, but attendance has dropped
since December 12. He noted that the provincial government felt
obligated to keep the schools functioning because the upper
class students would soon take exams. He detailed that his
department has developed a list of 27 schools in Punjab
registered as being administered by JUD out of approximately
45,000 private schools in total. [Note: Ashraf provided a list
of 26 schools. End Note.] The JUD schools tended to be in in
urban areas, he added. Comment: The Education Secretary's
numbers of JUD schools operating in the Punjab are widely at
variance with the initial number provided by the provincial
government in Ref C and reported by the press and in the JUD's
own literature. Post believes that the discrepancy is due to
the JUD's tendency to register some schools affiliated with the
Dawa Network as being run by separate trusts. End Comment


5. (C) Ashraf did not expect that he would change the
administration of all 27 schools at the current time, but rather

LAHORE 00000326 002 OF 002


only those singled out by the Home Department for straying from
the standard syllabus. While the Special Branch (SP) had
provided a list of ten such schools on December 12, he thought
that a meeting later December 17 would specify which particular
schools the provincial government should manage (see para 2).
Most of the JUD schools, he noted, taught the standard
curriculum and adequately prepared students for the exams.
Moreover, he had heard from parents that the schools had
state-of-the-art science and computer labs. He estimated that
7000-8000 students attended these 27 JUD schools. Asked if the
provincial government had the resources to take over the JUD
schools, he explained that he oversees over 64,000 schools in
Punjab, and another 27 would add little extra burden.

- - -
Health Secretary: Punjab To Take Over Dispensaries
- - -


6. (S/NF) Health Secretary told poleconoff December 16 that the
province has effectively taken over 18 dispensaries previously
managed by JUD in ten Punjab districts. He explained that the
Chief Minister intends to maintain these "small, basic"
facilities, which will employ the same doctors and nurses, but
have new locally appointed administrative staff answerable to
the provincial government. He expected that local civil society
organizations would take over the dispensaries within a few
months. He estimated that providing for free medicine and
salaries will cost approximately a million rupees (USD 12,500).
Asked about the three hospitals allegedly run by JUD (Ref C),he
replied that intelligence agents (presumably from the
Inter-Services Intelligence Agency) at the meeting he attended
had indicated that those hospitals were not registered under JUD
but a private trust and therefore could not be taken over.

- - -
Comment: Punjab Scales Back JUD Shutdown
- - -


7. (S/NF) The closure of ten schools and 18 dispensaries pales
in comparison to previous estimates (see Ref C),and is likely a
result of legal difficulties caused by JUD's foresight in
registering large numbers of schools and hospitals affiliated
with the organization as private trusts, specifically to evade a
crackdown of this sort. Intelligence agencies' apparent
involvement in pointing out these problems and pressing the
bureaucracy to scale-back its initial takeover plans is
distressing. The scaled-back plans will undoubtedly ease the
administrative burden on the provincial government, but will
allow large parts of the JUD network to continue operations,
including recruitment and fundraising directly tied to terrorist
activities. Post will press Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to
reevaluate his bureaucracy's plans and to move after all
JUD-affiliated assets whether registered under the name of the
organization or under the names of private charitable trusts.
End Comment
HUNT