Islamabad: Charities linked to jihadist groups use humanitarian aid operations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as a ruse to extend their influence over children orphaned in last year’s earthquake to spread their extremist ideology, a British newspaper reported on Saturday.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, contrary to government rules that earthquake orphans must be cared for by the state or relatives, many orphaned children in quake-affected areas October have been taken into care by dubious religious charities and Islamic schools.
The report from Muzaffarabad quoted a senior cleric, Qazi Mahmood-ul Hassan, who runs the Jamia Dar-Uloom al Islamia madrassa in PoK capital, saying that he had taken 55 orphans into care. His madrassa helped the Al-Rashid Trust carry out relief work immediately after the earthquake last October.
Al-Rashid Trust has been accused by the United States of channelling funds to al-Qaeda. The cleric said hundreds of other orphans had been taken into care by other madrassas and Jamaat-ud Dawa, proscribed by America as a front for Lashkar-e-Toeba, which is held responsible for various terrorist attacks in India.
"These people have taken orphans and they have a target of convincing people to accept their ideology," Hassan said. Before Pakistan reversed its policy of supporting jihad groups under pressure from America after September 11, the two groups were openly united, the report said.
Last week the US Treasury advised that charity organisations risked contributions being diverted to finance terrorist activities. The report singled out Jamaat-ud-Dawa, accusing it of "exploitation." It quoted a senior professional who works with Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Muzaffarabad saying that most of the members he worked with had waged "jihad" in Kashmir and Afghanistan.
He said the head of security at one of its hospitals was nicknamed "Dr Bomblast" because he was reputed to be a bomb-maker for terrorist operations. "I do not trust them. They bring books in favour of jihad for the patients to read and preach a hard-line form of Islam. They do not allow radio or television on the wards," he said.
A BBC radio report broadcast this week included the lyrics of a madrassa morning assembly song recited by quake orphans: "When people deny our faith, ask them to convert, and if they do not, destroy them utterly."
A spokesman for Jamaat-ud Dawa, Abdullah Muntazir, was quoted in the report denying the charge that his organization had taken care of any orphans and had any links to Lashkar-e-Toeba. "We are not preaching extremism," he said.
"Perhaps we have influenced people but they were already committed to Islam."
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