October 16, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 22, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 15: The Punjab Home Department has sought a detailed report from all law enforcement agencies on activities of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ).

Home department sources said that a letter dispatched to all police heads in the province and intelligence agencies had asked for submission of a detailed report on the banned outfit.

The letter said that some Lashkar diehard having links in Afghanistan had been regrouping for sometime.

“The diehard are looking for men at district level. They want their men in each district. They also have plans for fresh recruitment. Youngsters are their prime target,” the sources quoted a part of the letter as stating.

In its instructions to the law enforcers, the home department said the latest situation required them to be more vigilant and specific about the banned group.

“Enlist each and every member with everything about his background. Even if someone is not a registered member of the banned group, and has some kind of inclination towards its members or leaders, he should also be mentioned in a separate list.”

Though the letter did not mention names of the diehard, sources in law enforcement agencies said that Matiur Rehman, a wanted LJ activist with over Rs1 million head money, was supervising the latest drive.

Qari Idrees, who hails from Sahiwal and has strong links in Karachi and Quetta and has been acting as a middle-man between some Arabs linked to Al-Qaeda and local militants, is said to be financing new recruitment, the sources said.

The sources said the other details the home department had sought included phone numbers, home addresses, sources of income, assets, number of vehicles in use of the members of the banned group at both individual and organisational levels. The police chiefs have also been asked to mention in their replies whether any of the banned LJ members had training in Afghanistan or had taken part in Kashmir jihad, they said. The home department has also directed the law enforcers to seize all kinds of publications belonging to the defunct group, and arrest anybody involved in their printing and publishing, they said.

The law enforcement agencies and police chiefs have been asked to submit their findings at the earliest. The findings are likely to be taken up at a meeting to be participated in by senior officials with the Punjab home secretary in the chair next week.