January 14, 2002	Monday	Shawwal 29, 1422

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LAHORE, Jan 13: At least 254 offices of the four banned religious militant groups have so far been sealed and 533 activists arrested in the Punjab.

Punjab Home Secretary Brig Ejaz Ahmad Shah (retired) told a high-level meeting presided over by Punjab Governor Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (retd) at the Governors’ House on Sunday that the offices of these organizations were sealed and arrests were made following a crackdown launched late Saturday night after President Musharraf’s address to the nation.

Attended by Punjab Chief Secretary Imtiaz Masrur, IGP Malik Asif Hayat, Provincial Secretary Auqaf Syed Shafiq Husain and Additional IG Special Branch Saadatullah Khan, the meeting reviewed the operation against the organizations in detail and progress on measures announced in this regard.

Independent sources said that over 700 activists of the banned groups had so far been picked up in the crackdown. However, sources in the banned groups claimed that some 1,200 men had been taken into custody.

The Punjab IGP also presided over a meeting at the District Police Lines later in the evening that was also attended by Lahore range DIG Javed Noor, Lahore SSP Aftab Cheema besides other senior officers of law enforcement agencies. The sources said that the meeting was in progress till the filing of this report at 8:30pm.

Handling of the arrested men and carrying out further action were on the agenda, sources said, adding that “giving a legal cover to arrests was the main focus.” They said that cases had not yet been registered against most of the held activists. Some of them, however, had been booked under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order, Section 3 of the West Pakistan Regulation of Loudspeaker and Amplifier Ordinance, 1965 and the amended anti-terrorism act.

Meanwhile, the governor told the meeting that the operation would continue against extremist organizations and religious groups till the achievement of the desired objectives.

Emphasising the need to curb religious militancy, violence, sectarianism, intolerance and to ensure supremacy of law, the governor asked law enforcement agencies not to victimize any innocent person during the operation. He asked the law enforcers to take a strict action against those found involved in printing inflammatory literature, displaying banners, posters and weapons, wall-chalking, misuse of loudspeakers and collection of donations for jihad purposes in the province. He also laid emphasis on the deweaponization campaign.

The meeting also discussed in detail the formation of a long-term action plan to enlist mosques, religious schools, eradicate religious hatred and promote Islamic teachings. It also finalized a plan to monitor religious institutions.

The governor directed that instructions in detail should be issued to district governments for their active role in the implementation of the newly-evolved strategy to promote religious harmony, brotherhood and tolerance in society.