No check on banned outfits against hides collection
- Punjab IG’s spokesman says police does not have list of names of banned outfits
- Intelligence sources say more than 70 banned outfits are still functioning and adopting different ways for collecting sacrificial animal hides
Provincial governments have not made the names of religious and other welfare organisations public that have been registered and have been given permitted for collection of hides of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Inspector General Police Punjab (IGPP) Director Public Relations Office Dr Nabeela Ghazanfar told Pakistan Today that no list of names of the banned outfits was available with the police.
On August 26, Additional Secretary (internal security) of the Punjab Home Department Col Syed Wajahat Irfan Hamdani issued a circular with the subject: Collection of Sacrificial Hides by Defunct Jehadi Organisations. The circular was dispatched to divisional commissioners, regional police offices and the capital city police officer. It said: “The government has desired to ensure that no campaign for the collection of sacrificial hides by proscribed organisations is to take place in your area of responsibility.”
The confidential report attached with the notification says several banned jihadi and sectarian organisations have recently become active in collecting zakat, alms and donations. It says they have been “flexing their muscles for collection of sacrificial animals’ hides on the eve of upcoming Eidul Azha, which contributes a lot to the funding of such banned outfits”.
An NOC is required for collecting hides as donations.
Intelligence sources say more than 70 banned organizations are still functioning and employing different ways for collecting sacrificial animal hides. Sources said that banned organisatons have registered as welfare organisations under different names and it is not easy for the government to put checks on people and welfare organizations regarding the collection of animal hides on Eid.
In the past, especially in Sindh, people were delivered chits by different organisations and parties for hides on Eidul Azha. Such tactics are on the decline since the Rangers operation in Karachi.
When Pakistan Today contacted central leaders and officials of religious parties and of others about the instructions issued to them regarding the collection of animal hides on Eid, some of them said that police officials on every Eid created hindrance for them and ordered them to remove their hide camps from different places in Punjab.
According to officials in the concerned departments, besides famous religious parties, organisations and seminaries, there are many small seminaries which collect animal hides on Eid without getting themselves registered.
Banned outfits that cannot collect hides from people are Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Sipah-i-Mohammad Pakistan (SMP), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JM), Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Tehrik-e-Jaferia Pakistan (TJP), Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), Tehreek-e-Islami, Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan (Formerly SSP), Khuddam-ul-Islam (Formerly JM), Islami Tehreek Pakistan (Formerly TJP), Jamiat-ul-Ansar, Jamiat-ul-Furqan (Formerly JM) and Hizb-ul-Tahrir.
Other banned outfits include Khair-un-Naas International Trust, Balochistan Liberation Army, Islamic Students Movement of Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam, Haji Namdar Group, Shia Tulba Action Committee, Gilgit, Markaz Sabeel Organisation, Gilgit, Tanzeem Naujawanan-e-Sunnat (TNA), Gilgit, Balochistan Republican Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Balochistan Liberation United Front, Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat, Al Harmain Foundation, Rabita Trust, Peoples Aman Committee, Anjuman-e-Imamia Gilgit Baltistan, Muslim Students Organisation, Baltistan, Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat, Gilgit, Tehreek Nafaz-e-Aman, Tahafuz Hadadullah, Islam Mujahidin, Jaish-e-Islam, Khana-e-Hikmat and Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz.
When contacted, Central leader of Jamat-e-Islami Ameer ul Azeem said that Jamat-e-Islami spends money on its hospitals, dispensaries, help of widows and orphans and for other relief works in country.
He said that money o f hides is not spent for the Muslims of other countries and Jamat-e-Islami gives priority to Pakistan for helping poor and deserving people.
Central leaders of Jamat ud Dawa and Jamat-e-Islami and others said that there is no check of the government on unregistered seminaries (madrassas) which collect hides from people in the name of education as these organizations can raise millions of rupees through their collection of hides.
JuD collecting hides:
The Pakistan government has said the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) is not banned as the UN has not shared any evidence to establish that the group headed by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is linked to the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the UN Security Council and the US declared the JuD a front for the LeT and imposed sanctions on the Lahore-based organisation.
A written reply provided by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to a question in the Senate said the JuD is only “under observation” for any “suspect activity”.
The government also had imposed some restrictions on the JuD and detained Saeed and several other leaders for a few months after the assault on India’s financial hub but authorities never issued a notification to ban the group. Chaudhry’s response in the Senate said the JuD is “engaged in charity and social work, operating hospitals, clinics, schools, ambulance service and religious institutions”.
Habib Ullah of Jamaatud Dawa said his outfit will also collect hides on Eid throughout the country and has been using the money of hides for charity works in country such as the earthquake in 2005. He said Jamaatud Dawa also spends money of hides for deserving Kashmiri people. He said that court has allowed Jamaatud Dawa to collect animal hides on Eidul Azha.
Leaders of religious and other welfare organizations pointed to the failure of the government as it did not bother to check the seminaries that collect animal hides on Eid and pocket the money instead of spending it on education of children.
Following a high-level meeting, chaired by Commissioner Karachi, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, Sindh Home department issued a code of conduct for the collection of hides of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha a few days ago.
According to details, a ban has been imposed on use of loud speakers, banners, posters and erecting camps. Door to door collection of hides has also been outlawed.
Only welfare organisations and those who sign the code of conduct would be allowed to collect the sacrificial hides. Carrying arms, ammunition and batons would also be banned on three days of Eid.
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