Pak takes over religious schools

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan pursued a crackdown on banned groups on Thursday for the third day in a row in the backdrop of international pressure to counter terrorists operating from its soil following the February 14 suicide car bombing in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 40 paramilitary troopers.

A total of 121 people have been detained and more than 600 facilities, operated by banned groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaat-ud-Dawah across the country, taken over by law enforcement agencies as part of the crackdown, authorities said.

“The operation against proscribed organisations is an ongoing process and continues under National Action Plan (NAP) 2014. Interior ministry is actively working in coordination with provincial governments and law enforcing agencies,” the interior ministry said.

A meeting of the Corps Commanders on Thursday chaired by Pakistani army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, discussed the crackdown. Bajwa called for a “continued state of vigilance and alertness so as to be prepared for response to any threat”, a military statement said. He called for further efforts to “accelerate implementation of NAP while rendering full assistance to other state institutions”.

On Tuesday, minister of state for interior Shehryar Afridi said 44 members of banned groups had been detained, including JeM chief Masood Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Asghar and son Hammad Azhar. There has been no official word on the status of Azhar, although foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has confirmed he is in Pakistan.

Media reports said the crackdown was largely focused on JuD and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, both fronts of Lashkar-eTaiba. Both groups were banned by Pakistan on Tuesday. The reports said provincial governments had taken over scores of JuD and FIF facilities in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta. Punjab province has formed spe-

cial police teams to work with security agencies and the provincial home department said the headquarters of JuD and FIF in Lahore were taken over. Officials said JuD’s centre at Muridke had also been taken over. The Auqaf department removed the imams mosques run by the groups and

replaced them with other clerics. Authorities replaced signboards of JuD and FIF with those of district administrations.

Indian officials said they were monitoring the crackdown in line with a decision to work with the world community to maintain pressure on Pakistan.