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width="1" height="1" //divpAt first sight, they could be the grounds of an English public school,
with neatly trimmed lawns and earnest young pupils walking between classes. But this is the site
that India believes is the headquarters of the terrorist group responsible for last week's Mumbai
attacks. /ppBoarding houses provide spartan accommodation, and orderly rows of trees line the
sprawling site, just outside the eastern city of Lahore. Smartly turned-out pupils perform science
experiments in the classrooms, peering into microscopes and connecting electric circuits. There is
a farm, a swimming pool and a hospital. /ppIndia, and some western terrorism experts, believe this
is the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Islamist group suspected of carrying out last
week's Mumbai attacks. But according to the organisers of a tour of the site yesterday, it is
simply the educational and charitable arm of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic group that is legal in
Pakistan but declared a terrorist organisation by the US./ppFollowing Pakistan's ban on
Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002, it is widely believed to have morphed into Jamaat-ud-Dawa, though the two
claim to have no link./ppThe campus, set in countryside at Muridke, an hour's drive from Lahore, is
the place that India would be likely to target if it took retaliatory military action over the
Mumbai attacks. /pp"This is a residential and educational complex," said Abdullah Muntazir,
Jamaat-ud-Dawa's spokesman, taking journalists around the Muridke site yesterday in a media charm
offensive launched by the group. "You can see for yourself. This is all Indian
propaganda."/pp"Jamaat-ud-Dawa speaks up very loudly against Indian conspiracies; we let the public
know that India is the real enemy. That's why they always point at us."/ppThe carefully
orchestrated visit took foreign and local journalists around the beautifully equipped school and
hospital. The school follows the national curriculum, the headteacher, Rashid Mehnaz, said, taking
pupils from around the country. The poor were given financial help, with richer pupils paying fees.
Mehnaz condemned violence, saying suicide attacks were "absolutely wrong - it is forbidden in
Islam"./ppA press conference and sumptuous lunch was laid on for journalists. However, the madrasa,
mosque, and other facilities remained out of bounds, and once the official tour was over the media
were no longer welcome. Although the group had said anyone was welcome to look around the site at
any time, the Guardian's attempt to take up this offer after the tour was met with a heavy-handed
response: burly young men arrived on motorcycles and circled, demanding that we leave. /ppGiven the
attention that has suddenly been focused on Lashkar-e-Taiba, and on to the complex at Muridke, the
invitation to visit may have been arranged after a prod from the Pakistani authorities.
/ppCertainly there were plain-clothed officials present, who said they were members of "special
branch" - often a euphemism for the Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency. They wanted to provide an
armed escort back to Lahore, but why intelligence agents were there - and why an escort might be
necessary - was unclear. Muridke is not in a dangerous part of Pakistan, and the offer was
declined. /ppIt has long been said that the ISI has secretly backed Lashkar-e-Taiba, though the
agency always rejects the accusation./pp"The Indian media is creating a hype, but I don't think
they'll bomb us," said Muntazir. "If they did, it would be up to the government of Pakistan and the
armed forces to deal with it."/ppHe said Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a peaceful group, but it had
"supported" Lashkar-e-Taiba until that organisation was banned. He said that "morally", they still
backed those who were fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Lashkar-e-Taiba is the leading such group.
"The [Kashmiri] freedom fighters are doing their job very well. Their cause is just," said
Muntazir. "But I can't speak on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right:
10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mumbai-terror-attacks"Mumbai
terror attacks/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/india"India/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan"Pakistan/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism"Global terrorism/a/li/ul/diva
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"Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, speaking at an HIV/AIDS conference in Moscow, also said there was no
scientific proof that condoms provided full protection against sexually transmitted diseases. 'We
have banned, and will ban, the propaganda of sexual minorities' opinions because they can be one
of the factors in the spread of HIV infection,' Luzhkov was quoted as saying by state-owned RIA.
'Some home-grown democrats consider that sexual minorities are a major indicator and symbol of
democracy but we will continue to ban the spread of their views,' Luzhkov said. Luzhkov's
administration has banned several gay rights marches in Moscow in the interests, it argues, of
ensuring security and preventing public disorder."
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