Pakistan is demanding cash from almost 600 Islamists in a new attempt to prevent banned groups from re-emerging under new names.
The bonds are an alternative approach to mass arrests, which Pakistan used last year in an unsuccessful crackdown on armed groups. "They are being asked to give surety bonds of good behaviour. If they violate them we will arrest them and their surety will be forfeited," a senior police intelligence official said.
| Ummm... Yeah... That oughta work... I guess... |
Nearly 600 activists of armed groups outlawed on Saturday have been ordered to pay security bonds of up to 100,000 rupees ($1,725), he said. "This strategy is different to previous attempts when large-scale arrests were made because most of those people were subsequently released by courts," he added.
| Which kinda says something about the courts, doesn't it? |
Four of the five groups outlawed by President Pervez Musharraf in January 2002 under his high-profile anti-Islamist crackdown re-emerged under new names. Most of their 2000 followers and leaders were released after several months in jail. Three of the groups were banned again on Saturday and a fourth was placed under surveillance under a new anti-Islamist drive. Authorities have since shut down 137 offices of the banned groups and arrested one of their leaders, although his arrest was related to the murder of a hardline Sunni leader in early October.
| Can you have an entire country's head examined? |
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