Crackdown on SSP, JM : 170 arrested

[sparklingway]

22 SSP offices sealed, over 170 activists held​

Monday, July 12, 2010
Operation against banned outfits launched

News Desk

LAHORE: In an unannounced police operation against proscribed organisations, especially in the southern Punjab, scores of activists included in the Fourth Schedule have been arrested.

According to reports from Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Layyah districts, police conducted raids during the night and arrested dozens of activists who had been shifted to unknown places.

According to another report, in a massive operation against the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), 22 offices of the outfit have been sealed and some 170 activists arrested. The SSP is allegedly operating under the new name of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. The operation has been launched in Lahore, Multan, Sahiwal, Khanewal, Jhang, Bhakkar, Gujrat, Vehari and Rawalpindi and other cities.

Separately, Allama Ahmad Ludhianvi, the chief of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, strongly condemned the arrests. In a statement, he said preparations were afoot to play a heinous game across the country at the behest of foreign forces.

He said unjustified arrests of his party workers had created an environment of tension in the country and provoked the party activists against the government’s steps. “I have asked the government to identify terrorists in my party and they would be handed over to the authorities,” he added. He urged the activists of his party to exercise restraint.

Our correspondent adds from Bahawalpur: Eighteen activists of the banned organisations have been arrested in the crackdown initiated in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahimyar Khan districts.

In Bahawalpur district, six activists of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, Millat-e-Islami and Jaish-e-Muhammad have been arrested. Seven and five activists respectively have been arrested in Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalnagar. Talking to The News, Bahawalnagar DPO Mehboob Rashid confirmed the arrest of five activists. More arrests are expected.

 

[Old School]

This move will be fruitless unless we crack down on the financial front which keeps these terror outfits ticking. State Bank of Pakistan as the central banking body has paramount responsibilities to monitor and act on terror finances.

 

[waraich66]

All religious parties involved in terrorisim should be banned .

 

[Spitfighter]

How about JuD?

 

[karan.1970]

Its a good start.. Hope Pakistan has the far sightedness to stay the course and India does not do any posturing the spoil the momentum and allow some of these outfits to use the India bogey to deflect attention..

 

[Cheetah786]

Crack down i doubt that more like protection they are taken some where safe for protection.
When Law minister is part of the banned terrorist what kind of justice would you get from that Government.

 

[Peacefull]

How about JuD?

JUD and LET are charity organisations aren't they? recently punjab govt gave donations for the charities.

The problem is if these charity organisations if they are doing something in the background keeping a viel - its hard to find out and while they keep the secrecy it would be easier for foreign forces to exploit them, like people say Haqqani network is largely compromised and pakistani gov has got no clue.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This move will be fruitless unless we crack down on the financial front which keeps these terror outfits ticking. State Bank of Pakistan as the central banking body has paramount responsibilities to monitor and act on terror finances.

The State Bank can only act on legal financial channels and networks - even the Americans argue that much of the Taliban, AQ and associated groups receive funding from the Mid East (private individuals) through illegal channels such as Hawala/Hundi etc. Domestically funds are obtained through crime and donations under the guise of charity etc.

These are all outside the purview of the SBP and much harder avenues of funding to block.

 

[Cheetah786]

The State Bank can only act on legal financial channels and networks - even the Americans argue that much of the Taliban, AQ and associated groups receive funding from the Mid East (private individuals) through illegal channels such as Hawala/Hundi etc. Domestically funds are obtained through crime and donations under the guise of charity etc.

These are all outside the purview of the SBP and much harder avenues of funding to block.

All charities collecting Money for these terrorist parties can be banned by the government in one day and if explained to the people through media why they were banned that will a right start.

Be any kind of system Hawala/Hundi etc all these guys have to withdraw money from some bank as i doubt they sit with millions under their leg every day they must withdraw from banks large sums of money to honor the claim by simply making all transaction of certain size to be reported to the proper agencies these people can be caught in action.

 

[iPhone]

These are necessary intial steps which are most welcome. Obviously, militency won't vanish right away, it would take years of arrests, crackdown and most importantly successful conviction to undo the evil that was allowed to grow for over two decades.

 

[Old School]

The State Bank can only act on legal financial channels and networks - even the Americans argue that much of the Taliban, AQ and associated groups receive funding from the Mid East (private individuals) through illegal channels such as Hawala/Hundi etc. Domestically funds are obtained through crime and donations under the guise of charity etc.

These are all outside the purview of the SBP and much harder avenues of funding to block.

Some of our 'government colleagues' are in the Hawala/Hundi trade to monitor their operational activities. What we know from them is that there is still need for bank accounts for Hawala/Hundi transactions to be executed. Charities get recycled and reach their respective destinations. We know what is going on. However , we can not crack down due to absence of execution orders.

 

[sparklingway]

Police swoop on banned outfits​

By Abdul Manan
July 12, 2010

Officials say the crackdown was launched silently and without much fanfare. PHOTO: REUTERS​

LAHORE: Police swooped on supected hideouts of outlawed militant groups in four districts across southern Punjab and rounded up more than three dozen people it claimed were front-ranking cadre of these organisations, officials said on Sunday.

The arrests were made following raids in Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan on the night between Saturday and Sunday. Officials told The Express Tribune that the crackdown was launched silently and without much fanfare.

According to a breakdown, eight suspects were arrested from Sahiwal, 12 from Bahawalpur, around half a dozen from Multan and the rest from Dera Ghazi Khan.

There are however indications that obsolete information was used to carry out clandestine raids on several madrassas and mosques as well as homes of suspected militants. Some police officials confirmed that law enforcement personnel had relied heavily on “outdated lists of sectarian people” – which had been prepared by the home department in 1990 – before mounting the operation.

They also said that their colleagues chose to fall back on the old method of detaining the suspects under section 16 of Mainte-nance of Public Order (MPO) which would guarantee them freedom in a matter of a week or a month.

According to sources, the raids on some homes brought embarrassment because the suspects who once resided there were no longer alive.

Their names were still present on the consolidated list of the home department though.

Insiders claimed that the police had spared Jaish-e-Muhammad from the operation it had carried out in Bahawalpur range.

Two decades ago, the home department prepared a consolidated list of around 800 persons who were involved in various acts of sectarian violence or other related crimes. It also circulated the names of sectarian outfits and identified them as approved persons who might be a threat to the law and order of the concerned district.

Sources added that the home department had been issuing this obsolete list of sectarian outfits even in 2010.

Regional Police Officer Amjad Javeed Saleemi told The Express Tribune that Sahiwal range police had rounded up eight activists of banned militant outfits and conducted raids in Sahiwal and Okara. Saleemi confirmed that these sectarian outfits were identified by the home department in 1990.

He said that the detained persons would be put behind bars under section 16 of MPO.

RPO Bahawalpur Aftab Cheema told The Express Tribune that he would take charge of the Bahawalpur range within two days and the midnight operation had been conducted under the acting RPO. Cheema vowed to take stern action against the banned organisations in his range.

RPO DG Khan Ahmad Mubarak told this publication that the operation was carried out under a proper plan and at the time of the raids he was in Lahore. He promised to share the official version with the media on Monday.

A senior police official in Multan said that raids had been conducted at various madrassas belonging to hardcore militant outfits. He said that over half a dozen arrests had been made under 16 MPO.

The district police officer in Rahimyar Khan told The Express Tribune that the police had raided the madrassas of Maulana Muhammad Akber Awan. After that the police raided several houses of a banned militant outfit located at Jinnah Park and made some arrests.

Police officials raided the residence of one office bearer of a banned organisation, Faizul Haq Usmai, who had died in 2008.

One senior police official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that law enforcement personnel should have undertaken comprehensive planning before mounting the operation.

The official said that the frontline leaders of banned groups are used to facing the police and courting arrest under 16 MPO. Once the front-ranking cadre are taken into custody, the second and third lines of these outfits usually go in hiding. That is why it is important for law enforcement personnel to arrest the second and third line of the organisations allegedly involved in terrorism.

Defense analyst Lt Gen (r) Talat Masood told The Express Tribune that if the government has arrested the front-ranking cadre of banned organisations then it should detain them under various criminal clauses instead of 16 MPO. “The government should arrest all the front line of banned organisations and ensure that they receive punishment through the courts,” he said.

Masood said the Punjab government ought to disassociate itself from outlawed militant outfits.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2010.

 

[GUNNER]

LAHORE, Pakistan, July 12, 2010 - Pakistan's political heartland has ordered a crackdown on militants after a series of devastating attacks and accusations of links to banned groups, officials said Monday.

But the details and scope of the apparent crackdown -- which comes just days before Pakistan is due to host India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna for talks in Islamabad -- were unclear.

"The government has ordered a policy of zero tolerance against all these groups. There are at least 2,000 to 2,200 activists of banned outfits being closely monitored in Punjab," police official Akram Naeem Bharoka told AFP.

"We have very clear instructions from the government that no outlawed organisation should be allowed to continue their activities in any part of the province," Bharoka said.
Asked how many people had been arrested and offices targeted, the senior official in Punjab police said only that figures were being compiled.

Police confirmed raids and arrests of militants from extremist Sunni Muslim group Sipah-e-Sihaba Pakistan (SSP) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity seen as a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba group India blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"We have arrested at least eight people belonging to different banned organisations," Lahore city police chief Aslam Tareen told AFP.

"These organisations have been involved in distributing hate material and promoting sectarianism," he said. The government ordered police to curb the activities of these groups, he added.

 

[Areesh]

How about JuD?

Get out of your paranoia about JUD. Thank you.

 

[sparklingway]

Catching militants in jeans
July 13, 2010

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Five people were arrested during a crackdown on banned outfits in Rahim Yar Khan and Ahmed Pur Sherqia.

Police officials said that even though no senior member of the militant groups had been arrested, the captives were likely to assist them in tracing the movements of militants in the region.

“The Ahle Sunnat Aal Jamat has organised huge rallies and gatherings in the last two months in Rahim Yar Khan and the accused insist they belong to this group,” police officials said. On Saturday, local police conducted raids in Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad, Liaqatpur, Ahmed Pur Sherqia and other localities and arrested five people. “Not all the terrorists ‘look’ the same anymore. We have apprehended several suspects in western clothes, they are changing their technique,” SHO Rahmat Tarrar said.

Ahle Sunnat Wal jamat worker Javed Iqbal was arrested from Bandore; Khatam Nabuwat Maulvi Abdul Shakoor Farooqui was arrested from the Cheni Goth madrassa; Jamia Khulfai Rashideen Mufti Muhammad Ismail was arrested from an Ahmed Pur Sherqia madrassa and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat workers Qari Azi and Abdul Haye were arrested from other localities in the district. Police raided the madrassa of Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) Samiul Haq leader Hafiz Akbar Awan but no one was arrested. In Sadiqbad, an Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat madrassa in Arif Town was raided and the houses of Baba Amin Mujahid and district president Shafiq Muawiya were also raided but no arrests were made. Another madrassa in Adam Sahaba was raided but no one was arrested.

According to the police “most of the active leaders are in hiding and have also switched off their mobile phones. They are becoming increasingly hard to track and are in civilian garb, we caught three of the men in jeans and they were clean shaven,” Tarrar said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2010.