Fundraising campaign: JuD, FiF donation camps persist

Police say they have removed two camps and detained those running them under terrorism laws

LAHORE: The Jamatud Dawa and the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation have set up camps across the city to collect donations “to support Kashmiris struggle for freedom from India”. The city police say they have removed camps at two places and will take action against camps run by the organisations in other places too.

Banners and panaflexes can be seen at several places across the city seeking donations to support the Kashmir cause. However, the name they mention is Tehreek-i-Azadi-i-Kashmir (Movement for Kashmir’s Liberation). Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s name is also there. Some of the areas where this publicity material is on view are Shahdara, Dharampura, Allama Iqbal Town (Dubai Chowk), Canal Road and near Minar-i-Pakistan. Banners and panaflexes have also been installed at the entrance of Kala Shah Kaku.

Places were the JuD and the FiF, both on the government’s [militant] watchlist, have set up donation camps are in front of Hafeez Centre, at Moon Market in Allama Iqbal Town, Chauburji, Shahdara Chowk, Rana Town, Safanwala Chowk, The Mall near Masjid-i-Shuhada, Saddar Chowk in Cantonment, Shadman Market and Dharampura interchange.

At these camps, the JuD and the FiF have put up posters with photos of dead and injured and slogans urging the public to donate for the Kashmiris’ struggle against Indian government. The suggested donations are Rs5,000 to provide dry ration for a family and Rs20,000 to arrange medical treatment per injured person

With Eidul Azha about three weeks away, the JuD and the FiF have also started a campaign to collect funds for slaughter of sacrificial animals. The publicity material put up for the purpose says that the meat collected in this way will be distributed among needy families in Kashmir, Tharparkar, Peshawar, Palestine, Myanmar and Syria.



The banners seek Rs63,000 for the sacrifice of an ox and Rs9,000 for a share in group sacrifice of an ox, Rs16,000 for the sacrifice of a goat and Rs13,000 for a share in group sacrifice of a camel. They also offer slaughter and meat handling service to those sacrificing an animal on Eidul Azha. The banners contain details like cell phone numbers for those interested in the service.

When a call was made to a telephone number displayed at the entrance of a JuD’s Safanwala Chowk centre, a man who identified himself as Adnan said the publicity material had been put up after obtaining permission from the district administration. He said they had not been stopped by the police. Asked about the removal of flexes from some areas, he said the organisation had removed those on its own.

Syed Zahid Mahmood, in charge of a JuD centre in Shahdara, told The Express Tribune that volunteers receiving the funds had been asked to give receipts to the donors.

Mahmood said he had never faced any police action over these activities. Besides those donating for these special campaigns, there were hundreds of people making a monthly donation at the Shahdara centre. He said the organisation used these funds to provide coffins and burial and ambulance services. There were six ambulances at the centre, he said.

Imran Maqbool, a spokesperson for the Lahore DCO, said the district administration had issued no no-objection certificate (NOC) to the organisation.

Operations DIG Haider Ashraf said the police had removed camps set up by the JuD and the FiF in Liberty Chowk and on The Mall. He said FIRs had been registered against those taken into custody from these camps under Section 11-F (membership, support and meetings relating to a proscribed organisation) of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Ashraf said panaflaxes put up by these organisations were also removed from these sites.

He said the JuD and the FIF were organisations on a watch list. He said the police had been asked to remove donation camps set up by these organisations and to prosecute those caught from these camps.

The JuD and the FiF were put on the watchlist in December 2008 and March 2012, respectively.

On November 2, 2015, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had announced that coverage of the two organisations’ activities was banned under the National Action Plan (NAP) and in accordance with a UN resolution.

Speaking to the Indian media on January 23, 2015, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit had said that the JuD was not banned in Pakistan. He had said bank accounts of the organisation had been frozen and movement of its leaders restricted in accordance with the UN resolution.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2016.