Canada cracks down on Brotherhood because of its support to Hizbul Mujahideen

Doaa Imam

For the second time since 2017, the Islamic Society of North America, known as Isna in Canada, has been involved in the support and financing of an armed group, Hizb al-Mujahideen, which is active in Kashmir, India. This has led to a decision by the Canadian Security Authority to ban the activities of the group which takes its charitable work as a cover.

Isna is an entity affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood in the northern part of North America headed by Muslim Brotherhood member Ahmad al-Qadi. The Canadian news network Global News revealed that the Canadian authorities had stripped the association of the charity status a year ago because of doubts about the funding of the armed group.

The Canadian actions coincide with the Mauritanian decisions, both of which aim to encircle the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and to drain the sources of support and funding flowing to the Brotherhood from religious centers and charities. International policies are also in line with the deadline granted by the US Congress last August to the US Secretary of State and Defense in cooperation with the director of national intelligence, to complete a report that includes the nature of the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood branches across the world.

Sameh Eid, a researcher on Islamic movements, said: “The Muslim Brotherhood accepts such decisions by portraying them as a war against Islam, which is gaining the sympathy of the public opinion in the countries that support them.”

He added to the Reference that Canada always take positive positions, in light of the threat posed by the Brotherhood’s presence to the coexistence of Muslims there, especially as they represent an extremist model and do not express the tolerance of the religion, stressing that it would not have made such a decision if it has not seriously followed the actions and movements of the group in the territories of Canada and North America.

Hizbul Mujahideen

Twenty-eight years ago, a gang formation turned into an armed organization known as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, which adopted most of the terrorist operations in the Kashmir region, the only armed group led by mostly Kashmiris.

Local police also suspected India’s involvement in an armed attack on Friday morning that killed two members of the National Congress Party (one of the main parties in Jammu and Kashmir) and wounded a third seriously.

This comes in the wake of the publication of reports by Indian officials, on the volume of funds received by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Society of North America. The newspaper India Today said that Canada’s Isna issued receipts of donations worth $340, 516 under the three categories of relief, Zakat and the construction of mosques for the purpose of supporting and financing gunmen.