December 29, 2005: Headlines: COS - Morocco: Journalism: COS - Pakistan: San Jose Mercury News: James Rupert writes: U.S. seeks to stop militants' aid effort in Quake Zone
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December 29, 2005: Headlines: COS - Morocco: Journalism: COS - Pakistan: San Jose Mercury News: James Rupert writes: U.S. seeks to stop militants' aid effort in Quake Zone
James Rupert writes: U.S. seeks to stop militants' aid effort in Quake Zone
The United States is pressing Pakistan to bar militant Islamist groups that Washington views as terrorists from doing relief work in the country's earthquake-shattered Kashmir region. But if Pakistan shuts down the relief groups fingered by Washington, it will risk a popular backlash in the quake zone, said Kashmir residents and intellectuals here. President Pervez Musharraf has said the groups play an essential humanitarian role and will be monitored, but not shut down. Journalist James Rupert, head of Newsday's international bureau in Islamabad, Pakistan began his career abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching mechanics and welding in Morocco.
James Rupert writes: U.S. seeks to stop militants' aid effort in Quake Zone
U.S. seeks to stop militants' aid effort
ISLAMISTS HELPING PAKISTAN QUAKE ZONE
By James Rupert
Newsday
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - The United States is pressing Pakistan to bar militant Islamist groups that Washington views as terrorists from doing relief work in the country's earthquake-shattered Kashmir region. President Pervez Musharraf has said the groups play an essential humanitarian role and will be monitored, but not shut down.
This winter's race to aid earthquake survivors also is a contest to influence their future.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-ruled Kashmir, U.S. Army Humvees and sport-utility vehicles of American relief officials share rubble-lined streets with truck convoys of militant groups that the Bush administration considers enemies.
This month, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told Pakistani journalists that Pakistan should prevent such groups from doing relief work, which gives them a chance to promote militant ideas. The White House repeated the message during Vice President Dick Cheney's Dec. 20 visit to Musharraf, Pakistani news reports said.
But if Pakistan shuts down the relief groups fingered by Washington, it will risk a popular backlash in the quake zone, said Kashmir residents and intellectuals here. Instead of forcing out Islamist organizations, they said, Pakistan's government and foreign donors should counter them by taking a clearer lead in relief and development work.
While foreign governments have trumpeted the successes of the early relief effort, journalists and aid workers routinely find communities across the devastated mountain region that barely have been helped. In mid-December, nine weeks after the quake, the United Nations had received only 42 percent of the $550 million it seeks for emergency relief.
In villages across the earthquake zone, residents have praised the Islamist groups, who they say were faster and more organized than Pakistan's government and ruling army.
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Story Source: San Jose Mercury News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Morocco; Journalism; COS - Pakistan
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