M A I N   N E W S

Pak arrests 2,000 ultras
ISI to join hands with cops

Islamabad January 13
Nearly 2,000 activists of the five hardline Islamic groups which were banned last night by President Pervez Musharraf in his televised address to the nation, were arrested from various parts of Pakistan.

Besides the arrests, offices of the parties were also sealed and their records confiscated in police custody. In Sind nearly 900 workers were arrested and all branches of the offices closed.

In Punjab as many as 250 offices were sealed.

In Islamabad, the police arrested an Imam early this morning as he had criticised the government ban on jehadi outfits and the introduction of reforms in mosques and madarsas.

The administration also issued a warning to Imams in Islamabad that they must seek prior permission from the government to hold any function in the mosques besides prayers.

The five parties banned by the government included the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Tehrik-e-Jafria, the Sipha-e-Sahiba and the Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi. The government has also decided to monitor the activities of the Sunni Tehrik.

Meanwhile, President Musharraf has directed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and other intelligence agencies to assist the police in nabbing terrorists belonging to the banned militant outfits, especially belonging to the sectarian militant groups.

General Musharraf had directed the intelligence agencies to review and update the information on the target groups so that the core groups of sectarian terrorists of both parties were busted and not their second and third tier street agitators, it said.

The police sealed seven offices of the now-banned LeT, the JeM, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan.

The offices of the Lashkar at Chamberlane Road, Lake Road, Begum Kot, Moon Market, Gulshan-e-Ravi and Rasheed Pura were sealed by the police, it said.

The police also sealed the offices of the JeM at Jamia Masjid, Zainab Band Road, Tehreek Jafria’s Al-Arif House at Muslim Town and the Sipah-e-Sahaba office at Jia Musa, while more raids were being conducted, it said. Reports from Karachi said more than 400 religious activists were rounded-up in southern Sindh province.

Meanwhile, the official notifications to ban five militant groups, announced by General Musharraf last night, have been delayed due to legal complication. The notifications banning the five religious militant organisations were delayed at the last moment pending resolution of a legal issue and would now be issued tomorrow, a media report said here today.

MUZAFFARABAD: The ban on militant groups outlawed by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will also be extended to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the state government said on Sunday.

“I fully endorse the speech of President Musharraf and we will take action in our area in line with it,” Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, Prime Minister of the PoK, said in Muzaffarabad. Agencies

Pak yet to raze terrorist camps

Jammu, January 13
Contrary to its claims, Pakistan has not dismantled even a single terrorist training camp in the occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and instead has released all second-rung leaders of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) who were nabbed after the December 13 attack on Parliament House.

Security sources told UNI here today that of the 180 terrorist training camps, 67 fully operational and highly-fortified camps in Muzaffarabad, Mang Badri and Samani areas of the PoK continued to function as usual, but signboards and glow-signs on them had been removed to conceal their identification.

Besides, hundreds of boarding camps for those ultras, who had completed their training modules in Pakistan and have been certified as ‘mujahideens’ by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had been built in the Gilgit, Skardu and Chitral areas. About 450 ultras were awaiting entry into India but in view of the heavy retaliatory firing by the Indian soldiers the ISI was unable to facilitate their entry through the Line of Control (LoC), the sources added.

“In view of international pressure, Pakistan has dished out an impression that it had ordered a crackdown on terrorist training camps run by various outfits. But this is a pure eyewash, as they continue to function as usual. Kashmiri militants are being trained along with battle-hardy Afghan terrorists, who have fled Afghanistan in view of punitive American air strikes there,” the sources said.

Four brigades of the Force Command Northern Areas (FCNA) of the 10 Corps of the Pakistan army are currently functional in ensuring the logistics of these training camps. “The ISI is working in close coordination with the senior military officers of the corps including its commander, to facilitate the logistical supplies, including men and weaponry, into these camps,” they said. UNI