Al Haqeeqa
A convicted war criminal joins a charitable organisation which is based outside India and has no infrastructural presence in India, becomes its trustee within a short span of time, collects thousands of dollars from Indian Muslims on various pretexts like helping the Covid-19 victims, Qurbani share etc, keeps shuffling the board members of the organisation even though the charity work remains dormant for years and pays handsome amount to these shuffled members as compensation and provides fake images and documents on the organisation’s website to prove the legitimacy of the charitable work performed in India. Sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie based on financial fraud. However, the plot summarises the exploitation of thousands of Muslims by an organisation named Muslim Aid which is still an ongoing process while this article is being written.
The USA branch of Muslim Aid doesn’t have any tangible presence in terms of infrastructure in India. Its absence on ground was obvious during natural calamities like Kerala Floods, Corona pandemic etc. However, EU Disinfolab (an independent NGO focused on researching and taking sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, core institutions and core values) in its recently published report revealed that in 2018, Muslim Aid USA ran ad campaign on Facebook between August 13-14 seeking help for ‘Cow Share”, however, no details was provided about the actual ground work. In the same year, a request was made for donations during the Kerala floods. The organisation however, didn’t provide any details of the total fund collection and utilization. Again in 2019, Muslim Aid USA ran another fund raising campaign in the name of ‘Cow Qurbani Share’. This time again, they failed to provide any details of the actual use of the funds collected. During the Corona Pandemic, Muslim Aid USA again became active and collected funds in the name of “Help India Breathe”.
Questions can be raised on the quantum of amount collected by Muslim Aid USA in the name of helping the needy in India. Many may feel that amount collected must be small or the amount collected must have been used for helping the needy. The data however, speaks otherwise. In the name of ‘Launch Good’ campaign that they started in the year 2021 for providing Covid relief in India, they pocketed 76,886$ (equivalent to 57, 27,999 Rs!). Out of the big sum collected, Muslim Aid USA provided details of only nine oxygen concentrators that they supposedly delivered in India. However, they didn’t provide any detail of the ultimate beneficiary, hospital, local partners etc. There is no clarity if the oxygen concentrators were actually delivered. EU Disinfo lab further revealed that Muslim Aid USA claimed to have donated an ambulance to India and two images of interior and exterior were attached to substantiate the claim. However, on a close observation it becomes clear as a day that both the images are of two different ambulances. The ball didn’t stop here: there were more surprises. The number plate on the ambulance revealed that the ambulance was donated by the PRO Jansampark Dhar of MP Govt. all these clearly show that ambulance picture attached by Muslim Aid didn’t belong to them.
A charitable organisation is expected to be non-Political and neutral in its stance. Muslim Aid defies this logic. On 17th June 2021 they started a fund raiser campaign for “Jammu & Azad Kashmir” and with zero transparency and non-existent record of delivery, they pocketed approx 10,000$! Why did they collect funds in the name of ‘Azad Kashmir’? Where did they spend the collected amount? What motivated them to collect such funds? These are some of the uncomfortable questions that need satisfactory answers.
People give charity with a pure heart. However, while giving charity it must be kept in mind that the charitable amount must not go into the wrong hands. An individual may consider his contribution as petty or small but if combined with all the contributions, this amount multiplies into a large sum which may be utilised by organisations with vested interests for ulterior purposes. Also, any amount that these questionable organisations gobble up during a crisis means that a genuine organisation was deprived of it, which further worsens the crisis. The humans being have been blessed with the ability to think and enquire. This must be utilised every time a donation is made.
