Aid Organization of the Ulema explained

Organization of the Ulema
Headquarters:Karachi, Pakistan
Area Served:Pakistan and Afghanistan
Affiliations:[1]
Former Name:Al Rashid Trust
Founder:Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi

The Aid Organization of the Ulema (AOU), formerly known as the Al Rashid Trust is an NGO based in Pakistan. Beginning in 1996, it supported "charity and welfare projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan" while also providing "financial and legal support to Muslim militants around the world."[2] According to the United States Department of the Treasury, it began raising funds for the Taliban in 1999.[3] It was established by Islamic scholar and jurist Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi.[4] [5]

According to Alms for Jihad, the organization "provided financial and legal assistance to Islamists in jail, established a network of madrasas and mosques in Afghanistan, and coordinated its activity with the Wafa Khairia, an Afghan charity 'largely funded by bin Laden.'"[6] Its activities also included supporting publications that were "promoting and directly praising the Arab suicide bombers who attacked the twin towers and the Pentagon."[7]

It has been listed by the UN as a financial facilitator of terrorists in September 2001.[8] It was designated as a Global Terrorist Organization under the SDN by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, with operations in Afghanistan: Herat, Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar Sharif; and in Kosovo and Chechnya. Its addresses listed in Pakistan included: Karachi, Mansehra, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Mingora, and Lahore.[9]

Although its bank accounts were frozen by Pakistan after 9/11, it continued its activities in 2001 by opening new accounts under different names.[10]

Despite UN Security Council sanctions against it, the group continued to operate openly in Pakistan until at least 2020.[11] [12]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/maps/view/pak Pakistan
  2. Web site: Mapping Militant Organizations: Al Rashid Trust . . In 1996, ART started charity and welfare projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan to provide financial and legal support to Muslim militants around the world. . 19 July 2012 . 22 February 2022 . 7 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220307173225/https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/117 . live .
  3. Web site: Designation of 10 Terrorist Financiers Fact Sheet. United States Department of the Treasury. When President Bush initiated the financial war on terrorism in September 2001, the al Rashid Trust was among the first organizations named as a financial facilitator of terrorists. The organization changed its name to The Aid Organization of the Ulema (AOU) and remains active. The AOU is headquartered in Pakistan, and continues to operate offices there. They have been raising funds for the Taliban since 1999.. 19 April 2002. 24 February 2022. 24 February 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220224174120/https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/po3014.aspx. live.
  4. Web site: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 895/2013 of 18 September 2013 amending for the 202nd time Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with the Al Qaida network . legislation.gov.uk . 26 February 2022 . 26 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220226043749/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2013/895/annex/adopted?view=plain . live .
  5. News: الرشید ٹرسٹ کی فلاحی و رفاہی خدمات. Zahid Ur Rashdi. 13 October 2006. 25 February 2022. 25 February 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220225062838/http://zahidrashdi.org/2067. live.
  6. Book: Collins, Robert O.. Burr, Millard . Robert O. Collins. 2006. Alms for jihad : charity and terrorism in the Islamic world. United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. 9780521673952. Before being banned by the Pakistan government after 9/11 the Al Rashid Trust, during its short life, had provided financial and legal assistance to Islamists in jail, established a network of madrasas and mosques in Afghanistan, and coordinated its activity with the Wafa Khairia, an Afghan charity 'largely funded by bin Laden.'[cited to PE "Anatomy of a 'Terrorist' NGO"].
  7. Book: 2003. Know Thy Enemy: Profiles of Adversary Leaders and Their Strategic Cultures. USA. USAF Counterproliferation Center. 81–82. 9780974740300. Publications it controls have also been promoting and directly praising the Arab suicide bombers who attacked the twin towers and the Pentagon.. 21 March 2023. 9 September 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230909035510/https://books.google.com/books?id=_yffAAAAMAAJ. live.
  8. Web site: Protecting Charities . . The Aid Organization of the Ulema (AOU) is based in Pakistan and is a successor organization to Al Rashid Trust, listed by the UN as a financial facilitator of terrorists in September 2001, under UNSCR 1333. Al Rashid Trust was among the first organizations designated as a terrorist financier and facilitator. . 24 February 2022 . 24 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220224174117/https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/terrorist-illicit-finance/pages/protecting-charities_execorder_13224-a.aspx . live .
  9. Web site: THE AID ORGANIZATION OF THE ULEMA . 2022-09-09 . sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov . 9 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220909011641/https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=7201 . live .
  10. Web site: Anatomy of a 'terrorist' NGO . Escobar . Pepe . Pepe Escobar . Asia Times . The Pakistani-based Al-Rashid Trust is one of the key organizations included in America’s black book of terrorist groups...Pakistani banks, after President General Pervez Musharraf’s spectacular pro-US realignment, froze Al-Rashid's bank accounts, but this does not seem to pose a problem: the trust opened new accounts in the names of individuals. . 26 October 2001 . 22 February 2022 . 24 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220224051441/https://asiatimes.com/2001/10/anatomy-of-a-terrorist-ngo/ . live.
  11. Web site: Pakistan tightens curbs on Dawood, Hafiz Saeed . . Pakistan’s foreign ministry quietly issued two statutory regulatory orders on August 18 to enforce UN Security Council sanctions against ... terror groups, front organisations such as Al Rashid Trust that has been linked to al-Qaeda, . 23 August 2020 . 24 February 2022 . 24 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220224174120/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pak-tightens-curbs-on-dawood-hafiz-saeed/story-CaZsxBfnI0TzQKArEL90RK.html . live .
  12. Web site: UK Government has ordered to freeze assets of additional 300 persons related to ISIL and AL-QAIDA . . AL RASHID TRUST ... Banned in Pakistan since October 2001. Despite the closure of its offices in Pakistan in February 2007, it has continued its activities. . 3 October 2020 . 24 February 2022 . 12 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220412100552/https://finchannel.com/uk-government-has-ordered-to-freeze-assets-of-additional-300-persons-related-to-isil-and-al-qaida/ . live .

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