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| India-Pakistan | |
| Punjab bans 23 militant outfits operating under new names | |
| 2010-07-07 | |
| ISLAMABAD -- The Punjab government has banned 23 militant organisations operating under new names after having been outlawed and directed police to keep a strict vigil on 1,690 office-bearers and workers of the outfits after including them in Schedule 4. According to the provincial home department, Jamaatud Dawa of Hafiz Saeed has not been restricted like others, but Saeed and his two associates have been barred from travelling abroad. Their accounts have been frozen and they will not be able to get arms licences. Sipah-e-Sahaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Laskar-e-Taiba, Tehrik-e-Jafria, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Harkatul Mujahideen, Hizbul Tehrir, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Muhammad had been banned by the Musharraf government in 2002, but most of them started their activities under new names.
Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have been active in the Indian-administered Kashmir and have also been blamed in terrorist acts inside mainland India -- Jaish-e-Mohammad in attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001and LeT in the Mumbai carnage of November 2008. While Jaish's chief Maulana Azhar Masood has been keeping a low profile since his organisation was suspected of making an attempt on the life of former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, the LeT's Hafiz Saeed continues to be very active in the guise of various outfits even after the new organisation Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) was also was banned when the United Nations Security Council declared it a terrorist organisation in 2002. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |