Donating for a ‘religious’ cause: At the frontier, ideological boundaries are murkier

Majority of banners displayed on Grant Trunk Road belong to Jamaat-e-Islami’s charity wing, Al-Khidmat Foundation.

PESHAWAR:

While Karachi may be the ground zero of hide collection for proscribed organisations, the frontline city on Pakistan’s battle against extremism, Peshawar, faces a trickier situation.

The prevalence of religious organisations in the city makes the ideological boundaries between legitimate and banned activities even murkier.

After last week’s Friday prayers, pamphlets were distributed by religious and political parties outside mosques and banners were put up along busy roads.

The majority of banners displayed on the Grant Trunk Road belong to Jamaat-e-Islami’s charity wing, Al-Khidmat Foundation.

According to the foundation’s provincial media coordinator, Ahmed Abdullah, the funds generated from the collection of hides are crucial for carrying out humanitarian and philanthropic activities for the rest of the year. In the city of Peshawar alone, the organisation collects at least 3,000 hides every year, Abdullah said.

Legitimate, and the banned

While JI is allowed to collect hides, Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) is also campaigning in Peshawar’s Saddar area and on University Road.

JuD’s provincial spokesperson Atiq Chohan told The Express Tribune that JuD is campaigning with its sister organisation, Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

In one of their banners, they appeal to people to take part in ‘Islamic domination’ of the world.  In another, they encourage the rehabilitation of flood-affected people by donating Rs12,000 for a goat, Rs7,000 for a share in a cow and Rs49,000 for a cow or buffalo.

In upscale Hayatabad, Hizbut Tahrir has been distributing brochures. However, this year, there is a marked absence of open activities by other groups, such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), although they have rigorously campaigned in the past.

Committed supporters

Some of the banned organisations do not need to solicit assistance. Some ideologically committed people say they will donate to favoured banned organisations, despite the federal ban on hide collection by them.

Sarfaraz Khan, a government servant, said he will donate his sacrificial animal’s hide to the SSP. Defending his stance, he said, “In a democratic society, no one has the right to label others as extremists. I am free in my decision [to choose] who I should donate the hide to.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2012.