'Pakistani terror funding flourishes in Trump's America'

US President Donald Trump's crackdown on Islamic terrorism notwithstanding, a new report suggests that certain proxies of Pakistan-based terror outfits have continued to flourish right under Uncle Sam's nose, on American soil.

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'Pakistani terror funding flourishes in Trump's America'
JI’s Pakistan chief Sirajul Haque with Lashkar Founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Chief Syed Salahuddin.

In Short

  • Certain proxies of Pakistan-based terror outfits have continued to flourish in Trump's America.
  • American citizens and even the government continue to donate money to charities linked with terrorism
  • A new report has come out with such revelations.

US President Donald Trump's crackdown on Islamic terrorism notwithstanding, a new report suggests that certain proxies of Pakistan-based terror outfits have continued to flourish right under Uncle Sam's nose, on American soil.

While the Trump administration tries to choke financial and military aid to Pakistan, American citizens and even the government continue to donate money to charities linked with terrorism.

Think tank Islamist Watch has published a new report on the rising influence of charities being run by individuals associated with Pakistan-based designated global terrorist organisations. Sam Westrop, the Boston-based director of Islamist Watch and author of the report told India Today that some Islamic charities act as a front for terrorist outfits and collect money to fund terrorist activities in the subcontinent.

I'm speaking to you from the city of Boston. Just a few miles from me is a mosque named the Islamic Center of New England. Several years ago, the imam there was a man named Hafiz Masood. He is the brother of Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks. When he was living in America, Masood claimed that he had not spoken with his brother in years and had no connection to Lashkar-e-Taiba. As soon as he moved back to Pakistan, however, he immediately became a spokesperson for one of his brother's terrorist organisations, Jamaat-ud-Dawah.
- Westrop told India Today

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In his report, Mr Westrop has investigated US-based charities associated with Jamaat-e-Islami(JI). JI's Pakistani leadership is closely associated with Pakistan based terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, both designated global terrorist outfits by the US State Department. Sirajul Haq, the JI chief, is also general secretary of Difa-e-Pakistan Council, a united front of Pakistan-based extremist groups in which Hafiz Saeed plays a major role.

"JI is an Islamist movement, similar to Islamists networks such as the Muslim Brotherhood. JI promotes extremism in America and are connected to terror and violence in South Asia. JI's youth wing, for example, is called Young Muslims, and it teaches extremist tracts to young American Muslims. JI's main representative group, the Islamic Circle of North America, organises conferences every year that feature dozens of extremist clerics who have histories of inciting hatred against non-Muslims," Westrop told India Today.

Sam Westrop

"One of JI's charitable wings, meanwhile, is an American charity named Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD), which openly works with terrorists and extremists in Pakistan and Kashmir. Most recently, we found that HHRD organised a conference in cooperation with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks. Despite all this, JI receives millions of dollars from American taxpayers and enjoys the support of politicians and journalists all across America.The American government urgently needs to understand the dangers of giving funds and legitimacy to JI and other extremist networks active in South Asia," Westrop added.

The Islamist Watch report says charities such as HHRD, Al Khidmat Foundation and Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) are closely associated with JI and its leadership. According to this report, Mohsin Ansari (chairman HHRD)is an alumnus of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami's branch in Pakistan, who now runs a "networking" group for its graduates in the United States.

Ansari also attends JI rallies and events in America, Europe, and Pakistan, and has approvingly shared photos of Jamaat-e-Islami rallies in Pakistan at which the crowds wave placards reading: "Death to Israel. Death to America." They manage to generate a huge amount of charity money every year in US which is later diverted to places such as Pakistan and Gaza.

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"Unfortunately, extremist and terrorist networks have a long history of raising funds by setting up charities in the West. Generous people give to these charities because they think they will be helping house a family or feed a child. Instead, some of this money ends up subsidising hate and violence. Islamist networks have become extremely proficient at exploiting charitable systems.

The reason Islamist charities usually don't get caught is because of the fungible nature of international aid. If you take an area of the world where extremist organizations exert a great deal of control, such as the Gaza Strip or Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, then international aid charities can help prop up these extremist groups without directly funding them.

They do this by providing welfare and social services: Islamist-controlled charities genuinely build schools and distribute medicine and food. But these charitable activities serve to benefit the reputations of the extremists, as well as freeing up other income sources for violence and terror.

"This approach is so successful that even Al Qaeda tried it in areas of Mali under their control several years ago. It set up charities and distributed free medicine to locals in the hope of winning their support"

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Asked about the reason behind this callous approach, Westrop told India Today, "Many politicians in America continue to regard their Muslim citizens as one homogenous bloc. This is untrue and so when groups such as JI and other violent organisations step forward, the government presumes they are representative of all Muslims."

"That is why Islamist charities connected to extremism in Pakistan have received millions of dollars from the US government, because American politicians fail to understand that these groups are not common Muslims, but Islamists."

Asked about India's possible role in tackling these elements, he said "If India can explain to the American public in great detail how networks such as JI and Lashkar-e-Taiba are tied to terrorism in India and Kashmir, then politicians in America will find it easier to tackle these Islamists' proxies in the US," Westrop concluded.