ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: US Ambassador Nancy Powell on Wednesday said the United States “welcomes the weekend crackdown” on extremist organizations in Pakistan.

Talking to reporters at the launching of a child labour project, she replied in negative when asked if there was any US pressure behind the move and said the decisions were made by Pakistan.

The government banned parties/groups under the Anti-Terrorist Act 1997 for flouting an earlier ban imposed on them.

The banned outfits are Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan, formerly known as Tehreek-i-Jafria Pakistan; Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan, formerly known as Sipah e-Sahaba Pakistan and Khuddam-ul-Islam, formerly named Jaish-i-Muhammad.

US Ambassador Powell also announced assistance of four million US dollars by the US Department for Labour for the project to eliminate child labour in Pakistan.

The project is being executed with the assistance of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the US Labour Department, the USAID and other donor countries.

“Under the funding to be made available during the next four years, technical assistance will be provided to Pakistan to remove over 11,000 children (5-17 age group) working in hazardous industries and provide them skill-training,” she said.

Deep-sea fishing, glass bangles-making, tanneries, coal mining, surgical instrument manufacturing and rag-picking have been identified as hazardous sectors in Pakistan by the ILO that engage children as labourers.

No fresh data is available in the country on the child labour but according to a “National child labour survey” conducted in 1996, some 3.3 million of 40 million children 5-14 age group were found to be economically active on a full-time basis.

Of the 3.3 million working children, 73 per cent were boys and 27 per cent girls. Children’s contribution to work in the rural areas is about eight times greater than that in the urban areas. —APP