Will JuD face defections?

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) is silently controlling its activists for any possible defection and falling in the hands of anti-state elements particularly organisations like Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) commonly known as Daesh which is ideologically most suitable place for the defected elements of JuD.

“On January 31 when we were informed about placement of our organisation on, ‘Watch list’, initially Hafiz Saeed, the amir of JuD, was against protests but later we decided to protest not only using our democratic right but also avoiding possible defection from the ranks,” a key leader who is part of the central consultative group of JuD told The News while requesting anonymity.

“There is no possibility of any reaction or defection by any of our activists as they are groomed to follow the leadership,” says Amir Hamza, a central leader of JuD while outrightly rejecting the possibility of reaction or defection by any rank of the organisation.

According to the JuD sources, about 500 hardcore trained activists of JuD had defected on different occasions during last one and a half decades. 

On the other hand, a source in a Counter Terrorism Department revealed that they had almost details of about 300 ex-Jud activists who defected and joined other militant organisations like defunct Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) known as Daesh. Months back the list of defected JuD activists was also circulated among the law enforcement agencies including police.

“When you raised the emotions of your young activists to a certain level sometimes it becomes difficult for some of them to come back to the normal position even if their leadership orders,” says Tahir Alam, ex-Police chief while sharing his experience of dealing with such activists.