Sindh ban on jehad funds evokes protest

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 21. An order, issued by the Sindh province late on Monday night banning the collection of ``jehad'' (holy war) funds by militant outfits placing donation boxes at pubic places or displaying signboards at their offices, has created a storm in Pakistan.

The Pakistan-based militant outfits, engaged in operations in Kashmir, have raised a strong protest and dubbed the ban order yet another move to please the West, particularly the United States.

The military Government in Islamabad clarified that the Sindh province has issued the order and that it had nothing to do with the Federal Interior Ministry. A senior official told The Hindu that ``there is no directive for such an order from the Centre''.

However, there are few takers for this explanation. There is no way the Sindh Government, which is under the control of the military regime, could have dared to act on such a sensitive subject without the nod from the military headquarters. The significance of the timing of the order would not be missed. The Pakistan Foreign Secretary, Mr. Inam-ul Haq, was recently in Washington for discussions with the Bush administration. Curb on the fundamentalist religious and militant outfits has been one of the major issues raised by the U.S. for a long time now.

A few months ago, the Interior Minister, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, had toyed with the idea of enacting a law to ban what he termed a ``forcible collection'' of funds in the name of ``holy war'' and, following severe criticism from the militant outfits, he backed out.

In fact, a group of the religious and militant outfits approached the Lahore High Court against the observations made by the Minister. In its observations while taking up the case, the court said that the authorities had no right to ban the collection of jehad funds. Presumably, the case is still pending.

The Sindh Government order, if implemented, would affect some of the major militant outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, headed by Maulana Masood Azar. Maulana Azar was one of the three militants released by the Indian Government in exchange for the freedom of the passengers of the Indian Airlines hijacked to Kandahar in December 1999.

As per the press statement issued by the Sindh Government with immediate effect, no Jehadi outfit would be allowed to collect funds by placing donation boxes at public places or displaying signboards on its offices.

The Government would seriously view any deviation from this order and stern action would be taken against the offenders. However, the statement clarified that the Government had no intention to close down the offices of the Jehadi outfits. The Interior Secretary of Sindh said that only the collection of funds at public places was banned and if anybody voluntarily wanted to contribute to these outfits, they would not be stopped.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesman, Mr. Yahya Mujahid, said that by issuing such orders the Government wanted to appease India and the U.S. The people of Pakistan would continue donating money to the jehadi outfits. The Lashkar was in touch with leaders of other outfits and soon a join course of action would be taken against these orders.

The Al-Badar senior leader, Mr. Saeed Siddiqui, also termed the decision as U.N.-Islamic and said that no government could stop Jehad. Leaders of the Jaish and the Harkat-ul Mujahideen have echoed same the sentiments.

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