Terrorist groups gaining popularity in Pakistan
Dated 6/5/2006
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Islamabad: Two Pakistani Islamist groups declared terrorist organisations by the US recently are gaining popularity in earthquake-devastated parts of northern Pakistan for their continuing relief activities, a news report said Saturday.
Hundreds of residents of the Garhi Habibullah and Balakot districts, located in the North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), held demonstrations Friday to protest Washington's designation of Jammat-ud-Dawa (JD) and its affiliate Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq as terrorist outfits.
More demonstrations were planned for Sunday in the Mansehra district of NWFP, which is ruled by a six-party religious alliance of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) that are furiously opposed to the US 'anti-Islam' policy, English daily 'The Times' reported.
While many international aid agencies in the quake-hit region are wrapping up their relief activities, JD and its partner group along with the Al-Rashid Trust - another Pakistani outfit on the US terror list - are still running tent villages and hospitals in NWFP and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc in Pakistani Kashmir and NWFP on October 8 last year, killing an estimated 75,000 people and displacing more than 3.5 million others.
'I had serious differences with the JD and stayed away from the organisation but the way it has helped people rebuild their lives is exemplary and changing the way I used to think about its activities,' Balakot resident Abdus Sattar said.
He was impressed by the fact that the JD helped rescue his family and relatives despite knowing that they did not support the organisation's activities in the area.
Abu Zargham, the group's relief head, said: 'The US decision does not matter to us because we serve people to please Allah.'
The Pakistan government has said it does not intend to follow the US decision unless the UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee, which has already been approached by Washington, declares JD and its affiliate as terror groups.
JD, based in the Pakistani city of Muridkae in the eastern Punjab province, was established in 1989 and runs around 150 primary and secondary educational institutions across the country.
Lashkar-e-Toiba, an offshoot of JD that has been fighting Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir territory, is also on the US terrorist list and was banned by the Pakistani government in January 2002.
