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Kuwaiti charity with suspected al-Qaida links ceases Pak ops
Peshawar, June 29: Two months after its bank accounts were frozen because of suspected links to the al-Qaida terrorist network, a Kuwaiti charity closed down today ending 24 years of work in Pakistan and putting 1,800 employees out of work.
Peshawar, June 29: Two months after its bank accounts were frozen because of suspected links to the al-Qaida terrorist network, a Kuwaiti charity closed down today ending 24 years of work in Pakistan and putting 1,800 employees out of work.
Pakistan froze the accounts of Lajna al-Dawah al-Islami
in May at the request of the United Nations.
A former employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Arab and Afghan staff will leave Pakistan. While they haven't been ordered out of the country, he said they did not expect the Pakistani authorities to renew their visas.
The charity was based in North West Frontier provincial capital of Peshawar, barely 50 kms from the Afghan border. The organisation ran Islamic schools, medical clinics and an orphanage in Pakistan.
About 32,000 students are currently receiving Islamic education from the charity. Those schools will be closed, said the employee.
One of the founders of Lajna al-Dawah al-Islami was Abu Hafs, the brother of al-Qaida's no. 3 man, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested March 1 in Pakistan. Hafs was killed in 1988 fighting in the US-backed insurgency against invading Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan.
In an effort to tackle Islamic extremism in Pakistan and stop funds to militants groups, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year banned several groups and froze their bank accounts.
But some groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e- Mohammed have been able to maintain their financial resources by establishing new bank accounts that are difficult to track, according to banking officials.
Bureau Report
A former employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Arab and Afghan staff will leave Pakistan. While they haven't been ordered out of the country, he said they did not expect the Pakistani authorities to renew their visas.
The charity was based in North West Frontier provincial capital of Peshawar, barely 50 kms from the Afghan border. The organisation ran Islamic schools, medical clinics and an orphanage in Pakistan.
About 32,000 students are currently receiving Islamic education from the charity. Those schools will be closed, said the employee.
One of the founders of Lajna al-Dawah al-Islami was Abu Hafs, the brother of al-Qaida's no. 3 man, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested March 1 in Pakistan. Hafs was killed in 1988 fighting in the US-backed insurgency against invading Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan.
In an effort to tackle Islamic extremism in Pakistan and stop funds to militants groups, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year banned several groups and froze their bank accounts.
But some groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e- Mohammed have been able to maintain their financial resources by establishing new bank accounts that are difficult to track, according to banking officials.
Bureau Report