BAGH: Pakistan-based Islamic militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir have announced a new jihad to help victims of the massive earthquake which struck on the weekend, killing dozens of their comrades. Volunteers from the Jamaatud Dawa, formerly the outlawed jihadi group Lashkar-e-Taiba, were the first group to offer aid in this badly-hit Kashmiri town after Saturdayâs catastrophic quake. About a dozen young militants brought food, medicine, blankets and drinking water for shell-shocked locals, arriving days ahead of government relief teams and even the Pakistan Army, witnesses said.The worst earthquake in Pakistanâs history killed more than 23,000 people and made 2.5 million homeless. Azad Kashmir, a stronghold of support for Jamaatud Dawa, was the hardest-hit area. The militants claimed they could reach remote villages which the Pakistan Army and international rescue teams had struggled to get to. Party officials said the group, despite suffering severe losses of its own, was now carrying out relief work throughout Azad Kashmir. Humanitairan operations were also under way near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between Pakistan and India, they said.
âIt is a jihad to help people overcome their miseries,â a Jamaat activist who identified himself only as Saad told AFP. Holding a satellite telephone and swearing a commando jacket, the youth in his early 20s was leading a group of volunteers who approached their task with solemn determination. âI have a wife and three children - two daughters and one son. But I donât know where they are,â Saad said. âI havenât seen them for three years. They donât know my whereabouts.â
Jamaatud Dawa spokesman Yahya Mujahid said the group had mobilised around 2,500 volunteers for relief work in Pakistan and Kashmir. âThere is no other activity at the moment except relief activities,â Mujahid told AFP. âWe have launched massive relief work in Muzaffarabad, Rawlakot, Abbotabad, Balakot, Bagh and other areas,â he added. âSo far we have provided 1,500 tents ... We are trying to provide one tent for each family so the women can hide themselves.â
Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, a leader of the underground outfit, told AFP the group had taken a severe blow after about 70 of its fighters were killed in the quake. Group members who survived were attending funerals every two to three hours, he said. Jamaatâs religious schools and mosques had been razed by the trembling earth. More than a dozen members died when the roof of the party office collapsed during a meeting, the party official said. A Jamaat spokesman in Lahore said party chief Hafiz Saeed was alive and well. âItâs time to do jihad of a different nature, by helping people in this hour of need and Jamaat teams are working day and night,â he said.