Author: Sanjay Suri
Publication: Outlook
Date: June 24, 2002
Introduction: Journo, ISI man, charity
worker: will the real Ayub stand up?
Nobody can remember when Ayub Thakkar
became Ayub Thakur. The aggressive Ayub used to be a constant presence
at press conferences for years until he vanished from the scene. The mission
of Ayub Thakkar in England then was to raise the issue of human rights
in Kashmir and to talk about the UN resolutions on Kashmir.
Ayub Thakkar represented what he
called the World Kashmir Freedom Movement and a media organisation supposedly
backed by it. Once, at a press conference in the Foreign Office, Thakkar
was challenged to name the paper he worked for by British officials. He
could not. Some time after that he ceased to be seen on the press conference
circuit.
He has surfaced again now following
a strong Indian complaint against him to the British authorities. "Weren't
you Thakkar," I asked him. "Call me Thakur," he said. And where had he
disappeared to all these years? "I
became involved in doing other
things," was his vague reply.
Other things meant charity work
for widows and orphans in Kashmir. He says Mercy Universal, a charity of
which he is a trustee, forwarded Rs 5 lakh to charities in Kashmir. Another
payment of Rs 15 lakh had been blocked by Indian authorities, he said.
Had he raised money for others in Kashmir? "You want me to give out names
so that the Indians can go raid them," he said. "In India, anyone doing
charitable work is killed."
Ayub Thakur is now under close scrutiny,
however. The Charity Commission, which oversees the funds of organisations
registered as charitable organisations in the UK, has begun an inquiry
into Mercy International and other charities of which he is a member.
The inquiry follows a complaint
by the Indian government that Ayub Thakur has been sending money to Kashmir
terrorists. Thakur insists that "I have been sending money only for charitable
purposes. Money has been sent by bank transfer, and that is known to authorities
here and in India".
Thakur denied that Mercy International
is a front for the isi. "If the isi has to send money to Hizbul Mujahideen,
why would they go through us when our transfers are open to inspection?"
he asks. Thakur said the Charity Commission can examine his accounts and
insisted he wouldn't stop charity work and would "continue to talk and
talk sense".
