Pak extremists earn upto Rs 800 mn by selling animal skins: report

Extremist groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammed earned over Rs 780 million by selling animal skins gathered during Eid-ul-Azha despite restrictions imposed by Pakistani authorities on the collection of hides by such organisations.

The groups earned an estimated Rs 78,210,500 from the sale of hides, the Dawn newspaper quoted reports of the Intelligence Bureau as saying.

Members of the outlawed and extremist groups intimidated officials who tried to stop them from collecting the hides of animals sacrificed during Eid-ul-Azha, the report said.

According to the intelligence reports, the JuD and its front organisation Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation collected a total of 92,800 hides in Punjab.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed and its front organisation Al-Rehmat Trust too collected thousands of hides across the province.

Other banned groups involved in the collection of hides are Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Jaffaria Pakistan, Shia Ulema Council, Sunni Tehrik, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Al-Badr Mujahideen.

The Punjab government has expressed its "displeasure" at the failure of the police and the civil administration in enforcing the ban on the collection of hides by the groups,

the report said.

The provincial government had issued two directives on October 11 and 15 that banned the collection of hides by outlawed and extremist groups.

Police and the civil administration had been directed not to allow the groups to display their banners or set up camps to collect the hides.

Citing the Intelligence Bureau's reports about the collection of hides and the estimated amount earned from their sale, the Home Department has asked police and the civil administration to explain why they failed to check the activities of the extremist groups.

According to the intelligence reports, when a police station chief in Jhelum tried to stop workers of the Jamia Hanfia Taleemul Islam from setting up a hide collection camp on October 27, he was threatened.

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