RAWALPINDI, Nov 16: Police on Sunday continued raids in Rawalpindi and its suburbs and sealed more than 25 offices of banned religious outfits, police sources said.

The police started raids in the city on Saturday night which continued till filing of this report on Sunday. However, nobody was arrested. The police have so far sealed five offices of Khuddamul Islam, nine of Islami Tehreek-i-Pakistan and 11 of Millat-i-Islamia.

The decision to outlaw MIP, formerly known as Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, ITP, previously called Tehrik-i-Jafaria Pakistan and Khudamul Islam, formerly working under the name of Jaish-i-Muhammad and putting on watch list the Jamaat-u-Dawah, formerly known as Lashkar-i-Taiba, was taken at a high-level meeting, attended by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in Islamabad on Saturday.

In line with the government’s latest move against the religious outfits which had regrouped under new names, the police carried out raids in different parts of Rawalpindi division, Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum.

According to the sources close to the police, two offices of Khudamul Islam were sealed in Attock city. Similarly, two offices of the banned organizations were sealed in Jhelum.

Police officers were accompanied by armed commandos during the crackdown.

In Taxila a bookshop was sealed after some pamphlet inscribed with requests of giving donations to Khuddamul Islam and a party flag were recovered by the police, a source said.

Similarly, an office of Khuddamul Islam was sealed by the police in Hassanabdal.

Earlier, the government had banned five religious organisations.

Opinion

Predatory taxation

Predatory taxation

Without fundamental rethink and reset, Pakistan’s catastrophic tax regime will drive the country's already shrinking formal sector towards extinction.

Editorial

Victim complex
Updated 20 Mar, 2025

Victim complex

If New Delhi is sincere about bringing peace to South Asia, let it agree to an unconditional dialogue with Islamabad about all irritants.
LSM decline
20 Mar, 2025

LSM decline

THE slump in large-scale manufacturing amidst the adjustments the economy is forced to make in order to stay afloat...
Education interrupted
20 Mar, 2025

Education interrupted

THE sudden closure of major universities in Balochistan, ostensibly due to ‘security concerns’, marks another...
Genocide resumes
Updated 19 Mar, 2025

Genocide resumes

It appears that Palestinian people will again be left defenceless in the face of merciless brutality.
Strength in unity
19 Mar, 2025

Strength in unity

WILL it count as an opportunity lost? Given the sharp escalation in militant violence in recent weeks, some had ...
NFC weightage
19 Mar, 2025

NFC weightage

THE NFC Award has long been in need of an overhaul. The government’s proposal to bring down the weightage of...