A member of the British House of Lords, David Alton, has accused a
London-based charity organisation, Al-Muntada Trust Fund, of financing
the operations of Boko Haram.
According to the London-based Guardian newspaper, the parliamentarian
raised concerns about the Al-Muntada Trust Fund’s activities with
Foreign Office Minister Lord Howell in July, as well as with the United
Kingdom’s Charity Commission and the Metropolitan police.
However, the paper, in its publication yesterday, quoted the
country’s Charity Commission as stating that while they are aware of
concerns regarding Al-Muntada’s affiliations with Boko Haram, they were
unable to confirm whether those concerns are directly related to the
London-based Al-Muntada, since there are several other charity
organisations registered under the same name.
Nevertheless, the London-based Al-Muntada is notorious for being a platform for radical clerics, the Guardian reported.
The paper said the State Security Service (SSS) also has concerns about Al-Muntada allegedly funding Boko Haram.
The trust’s website shows that Al-Muntada Al-Islami parades itself as
an independent organisation initially established in the UK to cater to
the needs of the local community with a number of centres around the
world, each delivering need-based projects through local initiatives.
Some of these projects include: feeding programmes for some of the
poorest people in the world, educational programmes to tackle
illiteracy, building of water wells, and community outreach programmes.
“Easy Zakat is your all in one solution for fulfilling your Zakat
obligation. We, at Al Muntada Trust, understand the sacred importance of
Zakat and how it must only go to the permitted eight categories of
deserving people mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah,” the website says.
A call to the number found on the organisation’s website rang without
response and an email enquiry was not immediately responded to.
The spokesman of the SSS, Marylin Ogar, told THISDAY she does not
discuss security issues on the phone but promised to speak with a
correspondent.
Zakat (charity), is one of the obligations in Islam and even the
bible also speaks on charity but alleged funding of terrorist activities
that leave in its trail bloodbath, destruction and sorrow is by no
means a charity- it is evil. The Federal Government through its relevant
security agencies should go further and investigate this claim to
determine its authenticity or otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment