The Interior Ministry has asked the provinces including the administration of the federal capital and chief secretaries of the Northern Areas and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to compile data of officials allegedly involved in supporting elements of defunct religious outfits, sources told Daily Times on Sunday. These officials had allegedly leaked information to such outfits about the measures the government was taking against them, sources added. The orders were issued in light of reports by intelligence agencies stating that a majority of raids conducted by law enforcement agencies against elements of banned outfits were unsuccessful because of information leaks, they said.
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The reports also stated that as law enforcement agencies had planned these raids, only government officials could have been involved in the leaks, sources said. All provincial police officers and the federal capital inspector general of police were also asked to form teams consisting of police and district government officials at the district level to compile reports on the links of government officials including officials of law enforcement agencies with banned religious organisations, sources added. They were also asked to get information on the relatives of officials involved in sectarian violence and who were supporting armed religious groups, they said, adding that the reports would be sent to the Establishment Division and other concerned departments for examination. Officials would be terminated from service if proven guilty in this regard, sources claimed.
Law enforcement agencies had raided several locations countrywide to arrest elements of defunct religious organisations after sectarian violence in Gilgit, but most elements managed to escape at the last moment. Elements who had threatened Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat also managed to escape because information about the raid had been leaked to them. Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema, director general of the National Crisis Management Cell, was not available for comment. |