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Reportedly, some sponsors of HHRD events in Pakistan include Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), the charitable wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror organisation responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A US NGO based in Pakistan has been receiving humanitarian aid from the US Agency for International Development despite being linked with designated terrorist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, an American lawmaker has alleged.
In a letter addressed to USAID Administrator Samantha Power written on 24 January, Congressman Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sought suspension of the funding to the NGO pending a full and thorough investigations into these allegations.
“I am writing to express my deep concern that USAID received information from my office more than eight months ago regarding credible allegations that one of its grantees is associated with designated terrorist organizations, but the agency took no action. This award must immediately be suspended pending a full and thorough review of these accusations,” McCaul said.
The Congressman, in the letter, highlighted that USAID received information from his office more than eight months ago regarding bonafide allegations that one of its grantees named Helping Hand for Relief and Development is associated with designated terrorist organisations. “In October 2021, USAID awarded $110,000 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) through the Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program. This award was made despite longstanding, detailed allegations that HHRD is connected to designated terrorist organizations, terror financiers, and extremist groups,” the letter read.
In November 2019, three Members of Congress requested that the State Department review these alleged ties to terrorism in a public letter, he wrote.
LR @RepMcCaul: "Since May, I have asked @USAID to explain a grant made to an org Congress has repeatedly raised concerns about because of its reported association with terrorists. USAID has failed to comment on the allegations and clarify the process that led to this grant.
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) November 17, 2022
“Please immediately personally review this grant to HHRD. I strongly urge you to pause this grant while you complete a thorough review of the allegations, to include coordination with the intelligence community, federal law enforcement, the State Department Counterterrorism Bureau, and the Department of Homeland Security,” McCaul said.
McCaul also accused USAID of gross negligence in handling the matter and called its failure to take the allegations seriously “simply unacceptable”. “USAID attempted to defend itself by claiming it had forwarded information provided by the Committee to USAID’s Office of Inspector General.” While this would be an appropriate step, it in no way replaces or relieves USAID of its clear responsibility to promptly examine the allegations and to determine if it has been providing taxpayer dollars to an entity linked to designated terrorist organizations,” McCaul wrote.
The HHRD is also registered with the Pakistani Ministry of Interior and it operates in all four provinces of the country — Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It also has a presence in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. On its website under the HHRD partner and funding section, the NGO declares, “HHRD programs and projects are mainly funded by individual donors like you. HHRD institutional donors include Department for International Development (DFID), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), etc.”
Reportedly, some sponsors of HHRD events in Pakistan include Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), the charitable wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror organisation responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The US in 2016, had designated FIF as a terrorist organisation.
The United States Agency for International Development founded by 35th US President John F. Kennedy is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance.
