December 15, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 16, 1429

PESHAWAR, Dec 14: Security agencies continued crackdown against Jamaatud Dawa and arrested 12 workers and sealed its assets in different parts of the NWFP, said a local leader of the organisation.

Dawa’s provincial spokesman Atiq ur Rehman Chohan told Dawn by phone that 12 workers including Mardan district chief Murad Khan were arrested on Saturday night. The personnel of secret agencies raided Dawa’s workers houses and arrested 12 persons. He said that local police had expressed ignorance about detention of the workers.

Mr Chohan while accusing state agencies of torturing Dawa workers said that similar raids were also conducted in Abbottabad district and innocent people had been detained. He said that police had confiscated four motor cycles in Abbottabad main office.In Peshawar, he said, police had sealed Al Dawa Model School in Tehkal area on Saturday which was illegal. He was of the view that UN Security Council committee had banned Jamaatud Dawa and asked to freeze bank accounts while government had also sealed health centers, ambulance service and education institutions run by the organisation.

On the other hand, he complained, government had stopped media from providing coverage to Dawa’s leader.

“Sealing Dawa’s schools, hospitals and ambulance service will affect only common people and 25,000 workers across the country,” he maintained.

He said that Security Council did not call for closing schools and health facilities and asked the government to stop police from victimising their workers.—Bureau Report