Oh The Bureaucracy!

Whole areas were flattened, such as here in Balakot (Photo AFP)

The BBC has discovered that one of the charities linked with extremists is now using its position to gain access to orphaned or fatherless children. In the days following the catastrophic earthquake, the government of Pakistan promised that all such children would be looked after either by their extended family or the state.

There followed a mass mobilisation by ordinary Pakistanis, non-governmental organisations and Muslim groups to help the survivors. Various charities associated with militant groups also responded.

They included the al-Rashid Trust, which is banned by the UN Security Council and accused of being a conduit for al-Qaeda financing. The group is also on Pakistan's own terrorism watch list.

But the UN on the ground delivered aid to relief camps controlled by al-Rashid - tents, trucks, medicine, blankets and schools.

UN agencies also worked with Jamaat ud-Dawa, another charity which the US state department claims has close associations with the outlawed militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Jamaat ud-Dawa's publications include praise for violent jihad (holy war), as well as venomous attacks on Hindus, Jews and Western aid agencies.*

*Except when they're doling out money in the haphazard manner that is now the hallmark of corporate and also governmental restraint.