‘Terror’ charity groups taking advantage of Govt’s slow response to Pak floods

NEW YORK - As millions of Pakistanis struggle to wade through the devastating floods, which is being described as the country’s worst in the human memory in the last 80 years, proscribed terror groups, under the veil of Islamic charities, have jumped into relief and rescue work gaining the support of the beleaguered civilians.

Banned terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which carried out the deadly November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, have come to the rescue of thousands of Pakistanis displaced by the flash floods.

These new ‘humanistic’ terror organisations are using the crisis to attain public support and create an anti-government atmosphere, which was evident from the message attached with aid packets being distributed in various affected areas.

Mian Adil, the vice chairman of Falah-e-Insaniyat, admitted to have distributed aid at a relief center in Nowshera District came with a message saying “not to trust the government and its Western allies.”

Falah-e-Insaniyat is the charity wing of the LeT, and is believed to just another name of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which is the political arm of Lashkar.

The JuD had to lower its profile following tremendous international pressure after the 26/11 attacks. However, it has once again started raise its head with at least one of its relief centers in Mianwali, Punjab, boldly flying its trademark flag, The New York Times reports.

Khadim Hussain, an analyst at the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy warned of Islamic groups moving into the mainstream.

Hussain expressed fear that a failure by the government to reach the people could lead to a “complete reversal” of public support for the military’s campaign against the militant groups that have threatened the state.

The Pakistan government’s image has already taken a hit with President Asif Ali Zardari being hugely criticised for taking a foreign trip when his fellow countrymen are dying.

“I don’t care if Zardari is in Europe. His government is in Pakistan, but where are they?” the paper quoted Main Gul, a labourer who lost his home in the catastrophe, as saying. (ANI)