Author: Rezaul H Laskar/ M Zulqernain
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 7, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/267458/Islamabad-denies-fresh-ban-order-on-Saeed's-movements.html
Pakistani authorities on Tuesday said no fresh
order has been issued to ban militant groups working under new names or to
impose curbs on foreign travel by individuals like JuD chief Hafiz Saeed,
though action will be taken only if evidence is found against them.
Responding to local media reports that 23
militant groups operating under new names have been banned, Law Minister of
Punjab province Rana Sanaullah, Lahore police chief Muhammad Aslam Tareen
and sources in Islamabad said no notification has been issued with regard
to the outlawed organisations or individuals like Saeed.
"The Punjab Government has not issued
any new notification banning any proscribed organisation that is working under
a new name. They are already banned," Sanaullah said.
Authorities in Punjab were "planning
to crack down on militants if they are related to any banned organisation,"
he said.
This crackdown will be a "continuous
process in the nature of a search operation," Sanaullah added.
"The persons who are carrying out these
incidents of suicidal bombing are (hiding) in different cities... So the police
is now pursuing them and we are also probing the role of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah.
And if any evidence will be found, we will arrest those people," he said.
Sources in Islamabad said that no fresh notification
has been issued to bar Hafiz Saeed, blamed by India for masterminding the
Mumbai attacks, from travelling abroad.
Saeed's name was included in the Exit Control
List, a list of persons barred from leaving Pakistan, by the Interior Ministry
on December 11, 2008 after the UN Security Council designated the JuD chief
as a terrorist individual subject to sanctions like a travel ban and an asset
freeze.
Saeed had not been removed from the Exit Control
List since then though he was freed from house arrest on the orders of the
Lahore High Court last year, the sources said.
Law Minister Sanaullah made it clear that
the provincial Government did not have the powers to ban any group and such
a step could only be taken by the Federal Government.
He also contended that there were no militant
camps or "no go" areas controlled by extremists within Punjab province.
