From The Long War Journal:
USAID leader in Pakistan supports Jamaat-ud-Dawa front
By Bill RoggioAugust 26, 2010
The administrator of the US Agency for International Development in Pakistan visited a relief camp established by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a terrorist group supported by the Pakistani military, and delivered supplies to the camp.
Rajiv Shah, the USAID chief, visited a camp yesterday in Sukkur run by the Falah-i-Insaniat, Dawn reported. Shah delivered two truckloads of supplies to the camp to be distributed by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, according to Yahya Mujahid, the terror groups' spokesman.
Falah-i-Insaniat is a known front for the for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which in itself is a charitable front for the al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Taiba. Falah-i-Insaniat was established in 2009 after the United Nations added Jamaat-ud-Dawa to its list of proscribed terror groups. The charitable front established relief camps and delivered aid to Pakistanis fleeing military operations in Swat and the Malakand District that began in the spring of 2009. These camps also served as fertile recruiting grounds for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa/Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa capitalized on Shah's visit to claim that the group is legitimately conducting relief operations.
"JuD is actively taking part in relief operations," Mujahid quoted Shah as saying. "The work being done by the group is appreciable."
The US embassy denied that Shah visited a camp run by Jamaat-ud-Dawa and instead claimed it was run by USAID partners World Food Programme and Save the Children. But Dawn reported that the camp has a banner at the entrance that reads "Relief Camp -- Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation."
Background on Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa's extensive links with al Qaeda and Pakistan's military intelligence service
The Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its founder, Hafiz Saeed, have strong links to al Qaeda and elements within Pakistan's military and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI.
Osama bin Laden and his mentor Abdullah Azzam encouraged Saeed to form Lashkar-e-Taiba in the late 1980s, and helped fund the establishment of the terror outfit. Lashkar-e-Taiba, like al Qaeda, practices the Wahabi strain of Islam, and receives funding from Saudis and other wealthy individuals throughout the Middle East.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is an ally of al Qaeda; the two groups provide support for each other, and their operatives train in each other's camps. Lashkar-e-Taiba has established training camps in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province and the tribal areas, and also maintains camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Northern Areas.
A senior US military intelligence official described the group as "al Qaeda junior," as it has vast resources and is able to carry out complex attacks throughout its area of operations. "If by some stroke of luck al Qaeda collapsed, LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) could step in and essentially take its place," the official told The Long War Journal in November 2008.
The relationship between al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba is complex, the official noted. "While Lashkar-e-Taiba is definitely subordinate to al Qaeda in many ways, it runs its own network and has its own command structure. The groups often train in each others' camps, and fight side by side in Afghanistan."
Lashkar-e-Taiba has an extensive network in Southern and Southeast Asia, where it seeks to establish a Muslim caliphate. The group essentially runs a state within a state in Pakistan; the group has established an organization that is as effective as Lebanese Hezbollah. Its sprawling Murdike complex, just northwest of Lahore in Punjab province, is a town of its own. Throughout Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Lashkar-e-Taiba runs numerous hospitals, clinics, schools, mosques, and other services. In support of its activities, Lashkar is active in fundraising across the Middle East and South Asia, and the group has recruited scores of Westerners to train in its camps.
In 2005, the group succeeded in providing aid to earthquake-ravaged regions in Kashmir while the Pakistani government was slow to act. Most recently, Lashkar-e-Taiba provided relief to tens of thousands of internally displaced persons who fled the fighting between the military and the Taliban in the Malakand Division.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa has long been known to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Saeed renamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba as "Jamaat-ud-Dawa" in 2002 after Lashkar was supposedly banned by the Pakistani government.
In reality, Saeed and his leaders re-branded the group as a Muslim charity to mask the operations of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Saeed has been arrested several times by Pakistani security forces after attacks in India, but each time has been quietly released.
After the November 2008 terror assault in Mumbai, India, which was carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, Pakistan claimed to have shut down Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa offices and camps, and detained followers, but the efforts were largely cosmetic. Saeed was formally placed under house arrest, but in reality he was free to do as he pleased.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of the primary terror groups used by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency to direct military and terror operations inside India and Indian-held Kashmir. During the 1999 Kargil War, when Pakistan invaded Indian-held Kashmir, the Lashkar-e-Taiba fought as the vanguard for Pakistani forces in the mountainous region. To this day, Lashkar-e-Taiba military and terror units continue to infiltrate into Kashmir, with the help of Pakistan's military.
In early 2009, Lashkar-e-Taiba took credit for the fighting in Kupwara, and threatened India with the possibility of new attacks. “The gun battles should serve as a message to India that the struggle for Kashmir’s freedom is on with full vigor,” spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi said in late March. Seven Indian soldiers and 25 Lashkar fighters were killed in the battles in Kupwara.
India's Army chief said Lashkar-e-Taiba still operates 40 to 50 camps in Kashmir and Pakistan.
Pakistan has never acted meaningfully against Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Instead, the pattern has been to place Saeed under house arrest and claim to be shutting down the group's facilities, then later release Saeed and allow the reopening of the group's offices and camps.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/usaid_leader_in_paki.php#ixzz0xmTTH4Gh
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