ISLAMABAD, 7 May 2006 — Two Pakistani groups declared terrorist organizations by the United States recently are gaining popularity in earthquake-devastated parts of northern Pakistan for their continuing relief activities, a news report said yesterday.

Hundreds of residents of the Garhi Habibullah and Balakot districts, located in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), held demonstrations Friday to protest Washington’s designation of Jammat-ud-Dawa (JD) and its affiliate Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq as terrorist outfits.

More demonstrations were planned for today in the Mansehra district of NWFP, which is ruled by a six-party religious alliance of Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) that are furiously opposed to the US’ “anti-Islam” policy, English daily “The Times” reported.

While many international aid agencies in the quake-shattered region are wrapping up their relief activities, JD and its partner group along with the Al-Rasheed Trust — another Pakistani outfit on the US terror list — are still running tent villages and hospitals in NWFP and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc in Pakistani Kashmir and NWFP on Oct. 8 last year, killing an estimated 75,000 people and displacing more than 3.5 million others.

“I had serious differences with the JD and stayed away from the organization but the way it has helped people rebuild their lives is exemplary and changing the way I used to think about its activities,” Balakot resident Abdus Sattar said.

He was impressed by the fact that the JD helped rescue his family and relatives despite knowing that they did not support the organization’s activities in the area.

Abu Zargham, the group’s relief head, said: “The US decision does not matter to us because we serve people to please Allah.”

The Pakistan government has said it does not intend to follow the US decision unless the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee, which has already been approached by Washington, declares JD and its affiliate as terror groups.

JD, based in the Pakistani city of Muridkae in the eastern Punjab province, was established in 1989 and runs around 150 primary and secondary educational institutions across the country.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, an offshoot of JD that has been fighting Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir territory, is also on the US terrorist list and was banned by the Pakistani government in January 2002.

Police Arrest Six

Police acting on a tip raided a militant hide-out in southern Pakistan late Friday, arresting six men and seizing weapons and some bomb-making material, a police official said.

The men were caught without putting up any resistance from a home in the neighborhood of Malir in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, said Arfan Ahmad, a police inspector who was part of the raiding team.

He said the suspects were from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Sunni group, which is accused of killing scores of Shiites and targeting Westerners across the country in recent years.