The Punjab government has banned 23 militant organisations operating under new names after having been outlawed and directed the police to keep a strict vigil on 1,690 office-bearers and workers of the outfits after including them in Schedule 4.

According to the provincial Home Department, Jamaat-ud Dawa of Hafiz Saeed has not been restricted like others, but Saeed and his two associates have been barred from travelling abroad. Their accounts have been frozen and they will not be able to get arms licences.

Sipah-i-Sahaba, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Laskar-e-Taiba, Tehrik-i-Jafria, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Harkatul Mujahideen, Hizbul Tehrir, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Muhammad had been banned by the Musharraf government in 2002, but most of them started their activities under new names.

Sipah-i-Sahaba was renamed as Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan, Jaish-i-Muhammad as Alfurqan and Khuddamul Islam and Tehrik-i-Jafria as Islami Tehrik Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba as Jamaat-ud Dawa. Hizbul Tehrir did not change its name.

Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad have been active in Indian part of Kashmir and have also been blamed in terrorist acts inside India - Jaish-i-Mohammad in attack on Indian Parliament in December 2001and LeT in Mumbai carnage of November 2008.

While Jaish's chief Maulana Azhar Masood has been keeping a low profile since his organisation was suspected of an attempt on the life of former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharrad in December 2003, LeT's Hafiz Saeed continues to be very active in the guise of various outfits even after the new organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) was also was banned when the UN Security Council declared it a terrorist organization in 2002.

Maulana Mazhar Masood has kept his hold on his followers through his brother Mufti Abdul Rauf. Another of Masood's accomplice Maulana Abdul Jabbar has formed Jamaatul Furqaan. Intelligence circles say Mufti Abdul Rauf appeared on the scene after his elder brother was asked by his spymasters to vanish from the scene for the time being. However, Azhar keeps managing the JeM with the help of his brother, who is neither sought by the US authorities in connection with the 2001 gruesome murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl nor wanted by India for the December 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft, which eventually led to the release of Maulana Masood Azhar.

New Delhi has been demanding arrest and trial of Hafiz Saeed but superior courts ordered his release when the Pakistani authorities made a feeble attempt to detain him with lopsided evidence. Indian Home Minister P Chidambram last month was assured by Pakistani leadership that it would make renewed attempt to file a credible case against Hafiz Saeed.

The Punjab government has announced it is bracing for a crackdown on all banned organizations who are operating under pseudo names after the ban.

Task forces have been formed and assigned the task of identifying and taking action against active members of these banned outfits.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy Shiv Shankar Menon on Tuesday held out hope of India-China relations making greater progress and covering wider ground in the course of this year after the "distractions" of 2009. He said the two countries have moved to a new stage of their relationship and are engaging across broader areas.

The National Security Adviser, who is also India's Special Representative for the boundary talks with China, struck this optimistic note during a meeting with Indian journalists in Beijing at the end of his mission as the PM's special envoy.

The "distractions" that palled the climate for cooperation during a few months last year and caused a fall in the otherwise booming bilateral trade were the general election in India, the global economic crisis and "other developments" in China. As a result nothing very much happened to advance bilateral ties in 2009, though at the leadership or official level there was no difficulty that couldn't be overcome

Declining to dwell on the unpleasant patch the ties went through in 2009, Menon was confident that trade between the two countries would touch $60 billion this year. In fact, he felt it was time to start thinking of even more ambitious trade targets.

He was emphatic that while there is a reason to be satisfied with what has been gained so far, "now we have to move forward" and see how it can be done through a series of high-level engagements this year and early next year. "We can do things now that we couldn't do together earlier", Menon said citing the example of undertaking projects in third countries. Such cooperation is already happening and could even extend to a power project in the neighbourhood, he added.

"I can't see things which prevent us from working together", Menon said pointing to the high-level engagements this year in the form of visits by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and President Pratibha Patil.

Menon said that the issue of China-Pakistan nuclear cooperation was discussed during his four-day visit, marked by meetings with Premier Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and State Councillor Dai Bingguo. His expectation is that whatever the nuclear deal between the two, it would be in accordance with China's international obligations.

However, he sought to play down the China-Pakistan tie-up as "not a big issue" in the overall context of India and China being two big neighbours with a lot of business to do with each other.

Colombo, July 6
Hundreds of Sri Lankan activists led by a Cabinet minister today protested at the UN office here against a world body panel set up to probe allegations of human rights abuses during the LTTE war, a day after detained ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka asked the government to face it with courage.

Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, shouting slogans along with other protesters, demanded withdrawal of the advisory panel by UN Secretary-General Ban ki Moon.

He said his party, the National Freedom Front (NFF), fears that the appointment of the panel could be a precursor for the establishment of an international war tribunal to investigate the alleged offences.

The NFF is a constituent of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The operation against the LTTE, which was defeated in May last year, was initiated purely on the people’s demand under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to release innocent Tamil civilians in the North and East, Weerawansa said.

He said if the UN tries to have a postmortem to find the facts in favour of the LTTE, then people should stand up against the world body decision as well.

Weerawansa also criticised Fonseka’s alleged inclination to give evidence before the panel.

Fonseka, an opposition MP from DNA, told Parliament yesterday that the war against LTTE was carried out in line with international conventions and covenants.

The former General, who led the security forces in eliminating the LTTE, said that as the then Army Commander he was prepared to uphold the reputation of the military.

He said he was not afraid of any experts’ panel appointed by the UN chief to advise him on allegations of human rights violations during the war. — PTI