Pak Covid Scam Exposed: ‘Helping India Breathe’ Initiative A Farce

World

Covid-19 pandemic brought out the best and worst of humanity. While there were people and organisations, who went out of their way to extend help and pool resources, there were also others who duped people in the name of help and exploited their vulnerability.

In a latest development, a Covid-19 Aid scam, facilitated by US based Pak-linked Charity organisations, has come to light. One such organisation is IMANA- Islamic Medical Association Of North America, which collected crores of rupees under the garb of social media charity drives such us ‘Help India Breathe’.

From social media platforms to dedicated fund-raising platforms, the organisation used all means to win the trust of people who wanted to help India amid the health crisis crisis. Even though IMANA gained a lot of attraction with its fundraiser ‘Help India Breathe’, it kept revising its targets, its website had a map endorsed by Pakistan government and still has not divulged any details on the fund allocation.

With zero transparency and accountability, IMANA’s Covid fundraiser has turned out to be the biggest scam of the year. IMANA has not provided any clarity on how and where the funds were spent. Shockingly so, there is also ambiguity over the actual degree of the organisation’s chairman Dr Ismail Mehr, who also led the ‘Help India Breathe’ campaign. This certainly calls for an investigation as it is not only cheating people financially but also exploiting India’s goodwill.