Lashkar's new hiring ground outside Pakistan : FIF makes entry into Gaza and Somalia
The LeT commanders took the cover of Ramazan and organized several Iftar camps for orphan kids in Gaza last year, and has been there since then. FIF organized its first camp in Somalia this year.
In Short
- FIF spreading wings in Gaza and Somalia.
- FIF is a charity org and the social front of LeT.
- FIF organized Iftar camps for orphan kids in Gaza during Ramazan.
The recent activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliated charity organization Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) outside Pakistan is a reason to worry for security agencies- it has been openly spreading its wings not just inside Pakistan but in faraway places like Gaza and Somalia.
FIF first set its foot in Gaza two years back; this year the group organized its first camp in Somalia.
With troubled complex situation in Gaza and volatile socioeconomic conditions in Somalia, Lashkar commanders hope to find recruits and radicalize them easily in places like Gaza and Somalia than even in Pakistan and PoK.
TERRORISM IN FORM OF CHARITY
Ever since its formation, FIF has been the social front of LeT which is used extensively by the terrorist organization to make inroads into Pakistan's rural population.
Being a charity organization, it was also able to collect tax free money in the form of donation from several countries; this money was later transferred to LeT for their terrorist activities (mostly in India).
Two years after the deadly 26/11 Mumbai attacks, on November 24, 2010 the US government officially declared FIF, the charity wing of Hafiz Saeed's Jamat -ud-Dawa as an alias of LeT.
The executive order no E.O. 13224 also declared Hafiz Abdur Rauf, (the present chairman of FIF) a key financial facilitator for LeT and designated him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
CHARITY GOES GLOBAL, SO DOES TERROR
In 2014, despite having the tag of affiliation with a global terrorist organization, FIF Pakistan managed to make an entry into Gaza.
The LeT commanders were wise enough to take the cover of holy month of Ramazan and several Iftar camps were organized for orphan kids in Gaza during the month of Ramadan. The Gaza camps of FIF Pakistan have been there since then.
Earlier this year, in the month of May, FIF took first steps towards the African nation of Somalia and organized their first camp in Somalia.
Most of these camps were organized around cities like Bosaso and Hargeisa, once again these activities started just two weeks before the holy month of Ramazan and were publicized as a charity event from a fellow Muslim country.
LeT operatives can get an uninterrupted access to a larger mass in the African nation through these charity camps. The local governments hardly care as there seems to be no prima facie threat about such charity camps that provide free food to poor during the holy month of Ramazan.
As far as the governments of India and US are concerned, there are no visible signs of concern yet, not at least to the effect of tangible action as far as these terror sponsored charity camps on foreign lands are concerned.
- Even though the activities of FIF and JuD have never been affected inside Pakistan due to the US government designating them as terrorist organization, the US order certainly restricted them in their attempts to extend their activities outside Pakistan.
- In 2015, FIF saw major revamp in their strategy and outreach activities, with an overhaul change in campaigning and fundraising style.
- In November 2015, on the anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, FIF launched their new website (www.devotedtohumanity.com).
- On March 12, 2015 FIF also launched its android app which allowed users to donate money using smartphones, thousands of JuD volunteers spent days promoting the newly launched FIF app on social media platforms.
- This app was designed to attract the tech-savvy Muslim youth towards the outfit and also collect donations in electronic form using smartphones.
- But the app vanished from Google's app store after few weeks of its launch. It is believed that it was done after the app caught eyes of US security agencies.
- Only a few days after the launch of FIF mobile application, on 31st March 2016, USA and Saudi Arabia jointly imposed sanctions against two people for allegedly funding FIF Pakistan from Saudi Arabia.
- These two terror financers named Naveed Qamar and Muhammad Ijaz Safarash were allegedly coordinating finances of LeT through FIF from Saudi Arabia and other countries from the middle east.
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