ISLAMABAD, Jan 11, (AP): The US gave money to a Pakistani Muslim group that organized anti-Taleban rallies, but which later demonstrated in support of an extremist who killed a leading liberal politician, the US Embassy in Pakistan said Wednesday.
The grant highlights the difficulties facing Washington as it seeks partners to support religious moderation in Pakistan. Last month, The Associated Press reported that the US Embassy had created a counter-extremism unit to perform that mission.
US government website Usaspending.gov shows that the group, the Sunni Ittehad Council, received $36,607 from Washington in 2009.
A US diplomat said that the embassy had given money to the group to organize the rallies, but that it had since changed direction and leadership. He said it was a one-off grant, and wouldn’t be repeated. He didn’t give his name because he wasn’t authorized to speak about the issue on the record. The grant was first reported by the Council of Foreign Relations on its website.
The Ittehad council was formed in 2009 to counter extremism. It groups politicians and clerics from Pakistan’s traditionalist Barelvi Muslim movement, often referred to as theological moderates in the Pakistani context.
The American money was used to organize nationwide rallies against militants and suicide bombings, the embassy official said. The demonstrations received widespread media coverage, and were some of the first against extremism in the country.