Pakistan vows clampdown on Islamist charities

Enjoy Pakistan vows clampdown on Islamist charities
Global community has expressed fear that militants are using flood relief efforts to exploit anger against the government
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said on Friday it will clamp down on charities linked to Islamist militants amid fears their involvement in flood relief could exploit anger against the government and undermine the fight against groups like the Taliban.
Islamist charities have moved swiftly to fill the vacuum left by a government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and struggling to reach millions of people in dire need of shelter, food and drinking water.
It would not be the first time the government has announced restrictions against charities tied to militant groups, but critics say banned organizations often re-emerge with new names and authorities are not serious about stopping them.
"The banned organizations are not allowed to visit flood-hit areas," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters. "We will arrest members of banned organizations collecting funds and will try them under the Anti-Terrorism Act."
But Pakistan's courts have yet to convict a single person in any of the nation's biggest terrorist attacks of the past three years. That record, a symptom of a dysfunctional legal system that's hurting the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida at a critical time, could blunt the country's threat of arrests and prosecution.
Pakistani lawyers and law enforcement officials said weak investigations conducted by poorly trained and resourced police officers made it very difficult for prosecutors and judges to convict. Another daunting challenge: Judges and witnesses often are subject to intimidation that affects the ability to convict.
The legal system's failure to attack terrorism is critical because it robs Pakistan of a chance to enforce a sense of law and order, which militants have set out to destroy.
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