By Jessica Reed
According to a BBC report issued today, some UN relief money is being channeled through charities with connections to extremist groups, which are accused of recruiting children and teenagers orphaned by the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Many victims are looked after by Mujahadeen, while parentless children are supposedly schooled in Madrasas in the hand of extremist groups:
But at one of their schools in the town of Mansehra - set up initially with the help of the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef - primary children were singing a song at morning assembly which many might find disturbing. It includes the line: "When people deny our faith, ask them to convert and if they don't, destroy them utterly."
One of the organisation accused of endocrinating young people is Jamaat ud-Dawa, an Islamic aid group classified as an official financal supporter of Lashkar-i-Taiba (1) and Al-Quaeda. But the organisation provides a substancial amount of aid throughout the country, which is comparable to the Hamas' social & community efforts put into directly improving the life of their citizens. In Pakistan, they often seem to think that the government hasn't done enough to relieve the crisis, whereas Jamat ud-Dawa supporters were always present and showing great reliability.
(1) Militant armed group fighting for Kashmir who claims on its website to be a "movement that aims to spread the true teachings of Islam, and to establish a pure and peaceful society"
