TFPK01: POLITICAL PARTIES AND MILITANT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 015286 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2015 TAGS: PGOV PTER EAID MOPS PK SUBJECT: TFPK01: POLITICAL PARTIES AND MILITANT ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATE IN RELIEF EFFORTS REF: A. (A) ISLAMABAD 15278 ¶B. (B) ISLAMABAD 15254 ¶C. (C) ISLAMABAD 15208 ¶D. (D) ISLAMABAD 15130 Classified By: Derived from DSCG 05-01, d ¶1. (U) Summary: Pakistan's political parties are mobilizing their own relief/recovery operations for victims of the South Asian earthquake. All have promised to send funds, supplies, and teams to the affected areas and several are setting-up independent relief camps. In addition, Kashmiri militant/terrorist organizations and Pakistani sectarian extremist groups have initiated their own fundraising drives and relief operations ostensibly to benefit earthquake survivors. End Summary. ¶2. (U) While public criticism of the GOP response to the October 8 earthquake has increased, political parties have taken a largely constructive line. In parliament, leaders of all parties pledged not to try and score political points off the national tragedy and promised to cooperate in an effort to help victims. Members of the National Assembly voted unanimously to donate the equivalent of a month's salary each to a National Assembly fund to help earthquake victims. The Senate is expected to follow suit. The opposition cancelled its long-planned anti-government demonstrations for October ¶12. However, provincial leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have not uniformly followed the cooperative national line with several publicly criticizing the slow pace of GOP relief. ¶3. (U) Cooperation between parties in administering aid, however, is noticeably lacking. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML),PPP, and PML-N have all established separate relief funds to assist earthquake victims. All intend to establish relief camps in the hardest hit areas, and PML has already set-up a national camp at its headquarters in Islamabad. The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has dispatched a team of doctors to the earthquake zone and has promised to send additional relief teams. ¶4. (U) The Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) are providing support to NWFP and Azad Kashmir victims of the earthquake through their respective charitable arms, the al-Khidmat Foundation and the al-Khair Trust. JI leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed has been critical of the size of initial pledges from western donors and has demanded that the Pakistan military not participate in relief operations as it "has lost the trust of the Pakistani people." ¶5. (SBU) Jamaat-ud-Dawa (parent organization of the designated FTO Lashkar-e-Tayyaba),which has an already-established social development program in Azad Kashmir and NWFP, has promised to provide relief assistance to victims, including supplies and medical relief. Similarly Jamaat-ul-Ansar (an alias of designated FTO Harakat ul-Mujahidin) and Hizbul Mujahidin (a Kashmiri militant group) have pledged supplies, funds, and personnel for relief operations in Azad Kashmir. Sectarian extremist organizations Sunni Tehrike and Sipah-i-Sahaba have both established funds to support earthquake victims. It is unclear how these will be used to provide relief. ¶6. (C) Comment: With public opinion increasingly critical of the perceived slow-pace of the GOP response, opposition leaders have decided there is little to be gained by involving themselves directly in a political confrontation. Qazi's statements aside, their decision to "cooperate" in the national interest has been uniformly praised. While the parties' relief operations are likely to remain small and uncoordinated, such humanitarian activism is seen as a routine and necessary extension of "constituent services," which are critical to votes. CROCKER