KARACHI, May 16: About 300 Christians and Hindus on Tuesday protested a recent US decision branding Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist body. The demonstrators said the group did charity work that benefited minorities in Pakistan.

“We believe the US action against Dawa will deprive the poor of charities provided by them like medical, water and food,” said Ratan Kumar, a Hindu shopkeeper.

“Its volunteers never asked us to convert in return,” he said.

Dawa is headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

The United States last month declared Dawa a terrorist organisation saying it was new face of Lashkar, which was banned by the government in January 2002.

This was the second such demonstration in two days. Some 1,000 people held a similar rally in Hyderabad.

Dawa's relief work was prominently covered in the local media following the Oct 8 earthquake which destroyed a large swathe of northeastern Pakistan, killing nearly 74,000 people and rendering another 3.5 million homeless.

”The US decision was wrong because we are not involved in any terrorism,” Dawa spokesman Yahya Mujahid said. “We carry out charity works in poor areas irrespective of religion, cast or sect of the people.”—AFP