Pak. bans two militant outfits

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 14. In what is seen as the first major step towards containing sectarian violence, the Pakistan Government today banned two militant outfits with immediate effect and announced an amended anti- terrorism law with stringent provisions.

Addressing the newly-elected district chiefs of the `local system of governance', the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, dwelt at length on the havoc caused by the sectarian and ethnic violence and vowed that his Government would come down heavily on organisations which thrived on creating divisions in society.

He minced no words in suggesting that the biggest threat today was from within. The law and order situation was one of the major stumbling blocks in the path of Pakistan's progress and prosperity.

The organisations banned include the Sunni-dominated Lashkar-e- Jhangvi and the Shia outfit, Sipah-e-Mohammadi. The Lashkar had claimed responsibility for some of the recent Shia killings in different parts of the country.

Gen. Musharraf warned the Tehriq-e-Jaffaria Pak. and the Sipah-e- Sahaba of similar action if they were found indulging in sectarian activities.

Sectarian and ethnic strife had assumed alarming proportions in recent years. Since the military take-over in October 1999, 222 people have lost their lives in sectarian violence and at least 200 have suffered injuries in 83 incidents in 30 cities across the country.

Putting an end to sectarian and ethnic disturbances was on the top of Gen. Musharraf's agenda when he took over.

The military Government has been severely criticised by political parties and independent observers for its failure to keep its promise. Gen. Musharraf has been talking for several months now about amending the anti-terrorism law to give more powers to the judiciary but for various reasons the new legislation never materialised.

The Government launched what was known as the `de- weaponisation' programme with great fanfare several months ago. However, reports from the four provinces suggest that the Government has not met with success in recovering illegal and illicit weapons.

Pakistan witnessed unprecedented growth in illicit weapons after the Afghan war in the eighties. Several observers have pointed out that public display of weapons and indiscriminate use of guns to settle petty quarrels is a phenomenon of the nineties.

Successive Governments could do precious little to curb the trend as some of the organisations promoting sectarian strife were also involved in `jehad' in Kashmir and were out of the reach of the law and order machinery.

The Musharraf Government would also find it difficult to enforce the provisions of the new law at least against some of the high- profile organisations as they are also connected with the `jehad' in Kashmir.

The case of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the new organisation founded by Maulana Masood Azar, illustrates the point. Azar was set free by India in December 1999 along with two other militants in exchange for the release of the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane at Kandahar.

Gen. Musharraf referred to the de-weaponisation drive and said that it would be `revitalised' with the police and rangers being asked to conduct `offensive and intrusive' operations against unlicensed weapons.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : 'Pak. was fully prepared for summit'
Next     : Deadlock continues in Sri Lanka