Asian Window

Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich from Mardan, Pakistan, in the Independent:

An Islamist charity accused of links to the militant fundamentalists blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks has resurfaced at the centre of the aid effort to help hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Pakistan’s war on the Taliban.

Six months after Pakistan, under international pressure, outlawed the charity said to be a front for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), The Independent has discovered that scores of volunteers from the charity are openly working to ferry refugees from the edge of the conflict zone to emergency camps and hospitals. They are also providing food, water and first aid.

Despite a government undertaking that it had cracked down on Jamaat-ud-Dawa – described as the charitable arm of LeT – and pledged that it would not allow it to operate under a different name, volunteers say they are providing crucial services in an area where the government’s resources are stretched.

Yesterday morning, in a tent that had been erected on a traffic island in the centre of the city of Mardan, where thousands of refugees are being taken, the volunteers were operating under the name Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (Humanitarian Welfare Foundation). In addition to the foundation’s logo, the volunteers’ tent was hung with black and white flags carrying the symbol of Jamaat, a curved scimitar. “The foundation used to work under the name Jamaat-ud-Dawa,” said one of the volunteers, Jafar Khan. “We are operating emergency camps near the conflict zone where we are giving first aid, water, juices and food. We have 12 ambulances. We are taking people to the [refugee] camps and to the hospitals. Our supplies are coming from Punjab.” More:

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