January 4, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 19, 1422

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LAHORE, Jan 3: The Punjab police on Thursday arrested more than 80 activists of different Jihadi outfits and militant groups in the province in a crackdown launched late on Wednesday night.

Following a list of some 300 activists of different militant groups in Lahore and a similar list of over 500 men for other parts of the province, the Punjab police had launched the operation, participated by security wing of the Punjab police, special branch and intelligence agencies.

The Punjab government had provided the lists of wanted men to the police, based on intelligence gathered by the law enforcement agencies which were discussed in detail by the Punjab police security wings in their meetings held late Wednesday night before the crackdown.

Mainly the activists of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish Mohammad, the  two militant groups, are being raided though the law enforcement agencies have been asked to go after all Jihadi outfits. However, a spokesman for the Lashkar-i-Taiba, Yahya Mujahid, said that only one man of his group was picked up on Thursday. The authorities concerned have assured us that he would be released soon as he had been nabbed on information based on misunderstanding, he said. “The authorities say that  the operation was meant only for sectarian militant groups like Sipah-i-Sahaba and Tehrik-i-Jafria,” he added.

Mr Yahya said some 12 men of his group and some 80 activists of Jaish-i-Mohammad had already been taken into custody from all over Pakistan.

A source in the Punjab police security wing told Dawn that none of the arrested men was being kept at police station lock ups. “We have kept them at secret places,” he said.

Of the total arrests, some 18 of the activists were taken into custody from Lahore and its outskirts. Of them, one was picked up from the city division police, 13 from the cantonment division and four from the Saddar division police. Another 20 activists were taken into custody from Faisalabad. Remaining arrested men have been picked up from other parts of the province.

No case has so far been registered against them. Senior police officials are discussing the fate of the arrested people, the source said claiming that two of the senior officers were heading a meeting in Lahore in this regard till the filing of this report at 10pm.