LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said that legal action against proscribed organisations like Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Jaish-i-Mohammed (JeM) is not possible since "state itself has remained a part of this".

In an interview with BBC Urdu, Sanaullah said that these organisations are banned but asked, "How can someone proceed with legal action when state is itself involved in the case".

He, however, added that the accusation against PML-N for overlooking extremism in Punjab province is ‘baseless’.

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“After Zarb-i-Azb, our whole military and political leadership agreed that no one should be allowed to use Pakistani soil against the country’s neighbours. And any kind of terrorist activity which may be carried out to help someone or for someone’s right to self determination will be unacceptable for us,” the Punjab law minister was quoted as saying.

Answering a question about South Punjab’s link to militancy, Sanaullah said the whole country gripped by extremism and "this impression that South Punjab is the hub of militancy is not correct."

He added that the region was linked with militancy during the PPP tenure by former interior minister Rehman Malik for "political gains".

Operation in Punjab

About the recent operation against Rajanpur’s Chotu gang, Sanaullah said that the operation ended following the surrender of arms by the notorious gang and the area was declared ‘clear’ after the search operation, but some dacoits still managed to flee through river.

These activities are part of Zarb-i-Azb operation, he told BBC Urdu, adding that "the number of arrests made in Punjab is higher than other parts of the country".

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Sanaullah claimed that after the blast in Lahore’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal park, at least 10,000 raids were conducted across the province and about 50,000 people were interrogated.

The minister refused to give any time frame for the completion of operation and said "it will continue until all the safe havens of terrorists are eliminated and it can take few more years".