Hide collection camps: On eve of Eid, city govt begins issuing permits

Group affiliated with JuD sets up camp without even seeking permission.

LAHORE:

The city government on Tuesday gave two charities permission to set up camps for the collection of animal hides, but the applications of 25 other organisations were still “under process” with Eid just hours away.

The 27 organisations that had applied for permission to the city government had a day earlier been told verbally that they would not be permitted to set up collection camps.

But after a Monday night meeting with provincial government officials, city officials said they had granted permission to the Edhi Foundation and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital to set up camps, while the other requests were being considered.

The government has in recent years started to scrutinise which organisations set up camps to collect animal hides, amidst fears that the proceeds were being used to fund acts of terrorism.



The applicants to the city government did not include the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, which is associated with Jamatud Dawa (formerly known as Laskhar-i-Taiba), a group banned by the United Nations as a terrorist entity. However, at least one FIF camp had been set up in Lahore, near Chauburji on Multan Road.

District Coordination Officer Naseem Sadiq said that the Edhi Foundation and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital had been allowed to set up camps, while the rest of the applications – including from the likes of Jamia Naeemia, the Sahara For Life Trust, the Minhaj Welfare Trust and Dr AQ Khan Hospital – were being processed, he said.

Asked why the decisions were being left to the last minute, the DCO said that the Punjab government had changed its mind in this regard. Previously, the city government had been instructed not to allow any camps. Then on Monday night, the city government had been told to consider the applications and allow the charities to operate.

Asked about the FIF camps, he said that he was not aware that any had been set up. He said that to his knowledge, the FIF was not a banned organisation. Asked about its connection with the JuD, he said it was not for the district government to decide which groups were banned and which were not.



Home Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman said that no banned organisation would be allowed to collect hides. He said that the FIF was not on the list of banned groups, so it was for the city district government to decide whether to allow its camps or not.

About the delay in the process, he insisted that the provincial government had instructed the city government time to make the decisions. He said that the Lahore DCO had many issues to deal with in the city so that “might have caused the delay”.

Faisal, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation, confirmed that they had received written permission to set up collection camps. He said that they were relieved to have been allowed to collect hides, as they were a major source of funding for the charity. However, he questioned why other organisations were setting up camps without permission.

Khawaja Nazeer, the media manager for Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, said that the organisation had been told their camps were allowed, but had not yet received written confirmation. He said that they were glad, but such decisions should not be left to the eleventh hour.

Sanaullah, an official with the Minhaj Welfare Foundation, said that the organisation would set up collection camps as planned, regardless of whether or not they received permission from the city government in the few hours before Eid day.

Tariq Zaman, the DCO’s staff officer, said that teams had been set up in each town of the city to monitor the hide collection camps during the Eid holidays. He said no camps were allowed on The Mall.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2013.