Militant-linked charity fears Indian reprisal

By Kamran Haider

MURIDKE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Fear of an Indian missile strike haunts the Pakistani Islamist charity that India and the United States say is a front for the militant group suspected of slaughtering 183 people in Mumbai.

"Will India attack our centre?" said Abu Hassaan, chief administrator at Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity's headquarters, known as the Markaz-e-Taiba.

"Are they serious?" he asked, anxiously, before denying that terrorism was either taught or preached at the complex.

The head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa is Hafiz Saeed, one of the most wanted men in India.

Saeed is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group that India -- which says it is not planning any military response to the Mumbai attacks -- has made its prime suspect.

Saeed quit Lashkar days before it was banned in Pakistan, after being blamed for the December, 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which almost started a fourth war between the nuclear armed neighbours.

His aides deny that their leader has any links to militants and termed Indian demands for his extradition as "ridiculous".

"Hafiz Saeed has never been convicted of any crime anywhere the world over," JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid said.