Holy festival of Eid ul Azha is around the corner, where Muslims offer sacrifice of animals to honor sunna of Hazrat Ibrahim A.S. According to unofficial data, approximately, 40 percent of house hold in Pakistan are likely to slaughter at least 1 animal on occasion of Eid ul Azha. In 2016, around 8 million animals worth Rs 300 billion were sacrificed, generating total revenue of approximately Rs 11 billion through hides. This amount usually helps the poor segment of society as the hides are generally donated to different charities, mosques, Madaris and orphanages.
Though the money is largely used for welfare of the poor, many terrorist and proscribed organizations also become active in this month to collect funds. Such groups have become expert in using religious days to collect funds on different pretext to subsequently sponsor their terrorist activities. The groups generally select mosques or religious congregations to collect funds taking advantage of people generosity and lack of suspicion. They also actively collect hides from the people on various legible pretext. While, the donors think that they are spending in a good cause, in reality they all are contributing to fund a terrorist organization.
The government has taken various steps to stop such chanda and charity collections. A fatwa has been issued through council of Islamic ideology terming such donations religiously inadmissible to discourage public from donating funds or hides to any such person or group.
The government has also passed various laws to criminalize chanda collection and equip Law enforcement agencies to ensure effective crackdown. Provincial Police has become more active in the past few years registering scores of cases against such individuals and groups significantly reducing their numbers.
Besides, the government is also pursuing an active media campaign, where various TV networks are currently running awareness campaign regarding terrorists funding system and how can general public save their charities from misuse.
Other than government, common masses must also be sensitive to such serious issues and must ensure that their charity is not used for aiding those, who are involved in murderous rampage in the country. Pakistan has successfully eradicated terrorism from major portion of the country and terrorist organization are struggling to survive. In such backdrop, any financial assistance can be a life line for them. Therefore, there is a need for collective and unified efforts to ensure that our donations are not used for murdering the innocent. Let’s pledge as a nation that we should investigate thoroughly before donating our funds or hides this Eid.
