JuD in a new guise: Terror under another name?

The Jammat Ud Dawa may have been banned but it continues to function, now in the guise of a charity -- the Khidmat-i-Insaniyat Foundation.

Its leader, Hafeez Sayeed, one of the world's most dreaded terrorists is a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. He is one India's list of most wanted.

Says journalist Mubassher Bokhari: "Despite the ban on the JuD it is still active with a new name for welfare work in Swat and its new name is Khidmat-i-Insaniyat Foundation. Now what Hafiz Syed can do is to rename Jud and it will reemerge on the Pak horizon with the same agenda."

Sayeed's men are spread out in the Swat valley in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, helping, providing aid to families caught between the Taliban and the Pakistani forces.

The region has been devastated with non-stop fighting, and is a great breeding ground for Sayeed's Jihadi plans.

Government lawyers said they were surprised at the court's verdict, allowing for Sayeed's release. More so, as they had presented evidence linking Saeed's Jamaat-ud Daawa (JuD) charity, into which the LeT had morphed, with the Al-Qaeda.

The Pakistani government says it plans to oppose Sayeed's release in the Supreme Court.

But emboldened by his release, Saeed's lawyers say they will now challenging the move to freeze the organisation's assets.

Says Hafiz Saeed's lawyer A K Dogar: "No banning was demanded by UN. Freeze the assets, they had demanded. Now we are going to challenge that in the courts. I have a plan to file a petition against that, freezing of the assets. The constitution of your country ultimately prevails and you do not do what the UN wants you to do, you are a sovereign country."

Saeed has always focussed his sights on India -- from Kashmir to Mumbai. And if Tuesday's release is anything to go by, Hafez Saeed will continue his mission of death and devastation, despite a disturbed US and a weak appeal by the Pakistan government.