Why To Donate To Extremist Groups?

Like the ISPR`s spokesman, the government officials also vowed to bring the planners of the Budaber attack to justice and also the ones who financially assisted them.

It is an open secret that Taliban and other extremist groups have been carrying out their terrorist activities all over Pakistan for several years very easily. Whether they plan to garget civilians or any military installations, they accomplish it successfully. On the other hand, the Pakistani authorities seemed to be very helpless regarding how to counter them. Further, the way the terrorist groups kept on controlling the tribal areas militarily and even compelled the state of Pakistan to officially hand over the control of Swat valley to them, was the reflection of their strength. Of course, all that was not possible without the huge finances.

Question is how do the Taliban finance their operations and meet the requirements of its army of terrorists including the ammunition?

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Taliban have established tribal courts, operates extortion rackets and also play their role in resolving disputes for money. The Police officials accept this unofficially saying that Taliban come to Karachi to rest, for shelter, medical treatment and also for funding. Bank robberies and kidnapping for ransom increased noticeably due to the involvement of Taliban groups in Karachi. These clearly indicate how they generate their finances from Karachi.

Until late 70`s, the mosques of Karachi used to have Imams (priests) from within the residents of the areas where the mosques were situated. However after the involvement of the Pakistani establishment in Afghan war, the influx of non-resident priests from the newly established madarsas (religious schools) started taking place. At present, majority of the mosques in the city are under the control of such clerics.  

It is also worth-noticing that most of the students at these madarsas are not the kids of the nearby residents, but the ones belonging to other provinces especially including KPK and Punjab. 

It was difficult to understand for a common man why outside students were brought to Karachi, to say, for religious studies? However, the way the students of these madarsas came out on streets with sticks in their hands protesting over the murder of Mufti Nizam-uddin Shamzai (a Deobandi religious scholar and also the teacher of some Taliban leaders), it shocked the Karachi-ites who were expecting them to be most humble, patient and God fearing. The violent protest by the madarsa students made it very clear that they were basically the followers of their own sect and religious scholars more than being the students of Islamic studies.

Furthermore, the students of such madarsas have been commonly used in anti-America/West campaigns as well as to show their political presence and strength in Karachi by different religious parties JUI-F, JUI-s and JI against MQM which is a liberal and anti-extremism party of the city.

Another important aspect is that these madarsas and their under-controlled mosques mainly use the funds raised from charity, Zakat, hides and skins of sacrificial animals for running their operations. 

In other words, the funds raised from Karachi are not generally used for the local people who are poor, deprived and have become the victims of long-prevailing unrest and state operations in the city.

According to one more report of the foreign media, Karachi has been the safe haven for leaders of several extremist groups including Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), Jaysh-i-Muhammad (JM), Harkat-ul-Mujahidin (HuM), Lashkar-i-Tayyiba (LT), Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) since early 1990`s. Most of the religious and sectarian outfits operating in Karachi are believed to be having links with the city’s renowned madarsas. Many of the religious terrorists recently arrested or killed had been the students of these religious schools. 

But despite these, not a single madarsa or mosque was raided and its records were taken into custody, like the MQM`s head office, to probe the means of raising funds and also to know if the funds so collected were being used in promoting religious or sectarian terrorism/extremism in the country. Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (a banned outfit) was arrested for or stopped from pasting thousands of posters all over the city for the same purpose. What should such a policy be called if not “deliberately facilitating the extremists” to raise funds for terrorism in the country including Karachi? Similarly, instead of taking necessary measures so that the pro-Taliban and Jehad apologist religious and political parties/groups cannot raise funds on the eve of Eid-ul-Adha, they seem to have been given free hand to do the same by announcing an unannounced ban on MQM`s welfare wing KKF (Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation). Surprisingly, KKF`s volunteers have been arrested on the charges of “convincing people” to donate animal`s hides and skins to KKF, but not a single worker of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (a banned outfit) was arrested for or stopped from pasting thousands of posters all over the city for the same purpose.

What should such a policy be called if not “deliberately facilitating the extremists” to raise funds for terrorism in the country including Karachi?

Therefore, no matter if the law-enforcement agencies are not asking people to be cautious in this respect, but the Karachi-ites themselves would have to ensure if their donations (of hides and skins of sacrificial animals) are really going to be conveyed to the poor, deserving or the victims of the unrest in the city or they would be used to nurture the religious and sectarian terrorists to be used against them in their own beloved city Karachi.