Islamabad: Wikileaks revealed that the donors in Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates are sending an estimated $100 million annually to Madarsas in
Southern Punjab that back militancy, diplomatic cable published on Sunday.
The donations come from Islamic charities and missionary organizations and
are made "ostensibly with the direct support" of the Saudi and Emirate
governments, said the cable, which was written in November 2008.
U.S. lawmakers and senior American officials have said before that Saudi
donors and charities were still directing financial support to Islamic
extremists in the region, including in Afghanistan. But the cable was notable
because it indicated the financial support was now reaching a once moderate area
of southern Pakistan that observers have been warning is becoming more radical.
The religious schools in southern Punjab province single out poor boys for
indoctrination and send some of them off to military training to fight against
the Pakistani government and the West, said.
"Local economic conditions coupled with foreign financing appear to be
transforming a traditionally moderate area of the country into a fertile
recruiting ground for terrorist organizations," said the cable, which was sent
by Bryan Hunt, the principal officer at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore at the
time.
"The provincial and federal governments, while fully aware of the problem,
appear to fear direct confrontation with these extremist groups," the U.S. cable
said.
The U.S. Consulate in Lahore "believes that this growing recruitment network
poses a direct threat to (U.S. government) counterterrorism and
counter-extremism efforts in Pakistan," the cable said.
Saudi and Emirate officials did not have any immediate comment. Online