PESHAWAR, Oct 31, 2005: Jamaatud Dawa chief Prof Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said here on Sunday that rescue and relief operations conducted by religious organizations in the quake-affected areas of the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir had been duly acknowledged even by those who had been accusing these organizations of promoting terrorism and extremism.

“Even un-Islamic elements have admitted that these organizations are working for the cause of humanity,” Prof Saeed told a gathering here on Sunday.

He said that such disasters were admonitions from the Almighty Allah and “we must enforce Islamic laws in the country” to avert such incidents in future.

“The earthquake is a punishment for what the rulers have been doing to please the United States,” he said.

He praised the rescue and relief activities being carried out by religious organizations and said that the Jamaatud Dawa would continue to work for the rehabilitation of survivors near their destroyed or damaged homes.

He said that the organization would set up tent cities in plains near mountains and affected people would be accommodated there.

“We will set up villages of 100 tents each. They will have dispensaries and mosques and we have already made arrangements for two such villages. House on hilltops will be built with fibreglass roof,” he said.

He said that free food would be supplied in the tent cities for six months.