JEDDAH, 19 December 2005 — A senior official of Indian Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the leading Islamic organizations in the country, has commended the relief work by Indian military forces in Kashmir among the region’s earthquake victims.
“These efforts will go a long way toward winning the hearts of Kashmiris who were alienated as a result of government policies,” said Khaja Shihabuddin, Jamaat’s Haj affairs secretary and convener of Ideal Relief Wing.
Shihabuddin, who recently visited Kashmir as part of a seven-member Jamaat team, pointed out that the Indian government must do more to improve conditions in Kashmir and allay the people’s fears and concerns.
The Jamaat team, including four doctors, visited the areas affected by the Oct. 8 earthquake to assess the damage and study the relief requirements. In Indian-administered Kashmir, about 1,350 people died and 6,300 were injured while nearly 33,000 buildings collapsed as a result of the tremor.
“We have decided to set up 1,000 tin-sheet shelters in Kashmir, spending about 8.5 million rupees, to protect the refugees from snow storms,” Shihabuddin said, adding that the quake victims in Kashmir required 40,000 such shelters.
He underscored Jamaat’s efforts in the service of the public and its relief works to alleviate the suffering of the victims of natural calamities and communal riots. “We have established thousands of houses for Gujarat’s earthquake victims and collected 23 million rupees for tsunami victims,” he said.
Jamaat has been conducting relief work independently, without handing over the money to the government. “We have adopted this policy to make sure that the money reaches the deserving. There have been cases of the government misusing money collected for tsunami victims.”
Shihabuddin is in the Kingdom as one of the leaders of the Kerala Haj Group (KHG), which has brought 624 pilgrims from Kerala. KHG has earned a name in the south Indian state because of its services to pilgrims, especially in providing much needed Islamic guidance. “KHG is a non-profitable venture. Ours is the only organization which returns the balance to pilgrims after deducting expenses,” he said.
He pointed out that the Tawafa organizations were charging an additional SR400 to SR800 for each pilgrim this year for tents in Mina and Arafat, in addition to SR1,089 paid to Saudi authorities on arrival at airport. He expressed his hope that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah would intervene and reduce the pilgrims’ burden.
