August 26, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 23, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

“We have banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan because of its involvement in a series of suicide attacks that claimed the lives of over 1,200 people,” Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik told Dawn on Monday.

“The TTP has claimed responsibility for several suicide attacks, including the fresh twin blasts outside POF in Wah, killing at least 78 people, and the government cannot engage in dialogue with terrorists,” he said.

The government had also rejected a ceasefire offer by the TTP and announced that it would not hold talks with terrorists who refused to lay down weapons.

A handout issued by the interior ministry said the State Bank had been asked to freeze any accounts of the TTP. Organisations and persons belonging to the organisation are forbidden from collecting money or raising funds for their activities and its offices would be sealed and assets seized.It said the government had reasons to believe that the TTP was a militant organisation headed by Baitullah Mehsud based in South Waziristan. It was involved in acts of terrorism, including suicide bombings, throughout the country and it had publicly accepted responsibility for terrorist acts. Therefore, the government had proscribed the TTP under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The organisation apparently has no office in the settled areas and no bank accounts.

A spokesman for the organisation termed the ban ‘meaningless’, saying it would have no effect. “Tehrik-i-Taliban is not a political organisation that can be barred from parliament by imposing a ban,” he told BBC.