US embassy cable - 05ISLAMABAD15286

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, Earthquake 
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