Experts have reportedly dubbed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed's decision to launch an ambulance service in Karachi as a "calculated rebuke" to speculations that suggest that the Pakistani authorities were finally going to act against the group.
According to The New York Times, the group's freedom of movement, despite a wave of anti-militant sentiment in the aftermath of the Peshawar school massacre last month, showed that the group still enjoys "official tolerance."
Moeed Yusuf, director of South Asia programs at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, noted that "a different part of the brain" operates when officials talk about these groups.
The different treatment stems from the group's different idea of jihad, which is mostly aimed at India, and its close links to the Pakistani intelligence services, which has a record of playing favourites with militant groups.
Pakistan has already initiated a military crackdown on the Pakistani Taliban but has shown little resolve to expand the operation to include Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates and allies.
While pointing out that the paradigm in Pakistan is shifting, Yusuf pointed out that Pakistan is "petrified at the prospect of touching militants based in Punjab" and added that one can be sure that it is not going to act against JuD any time soon.
