LAHORE, Feb 16: Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said on Saturday that Sindh had not yet been able to control sectarian killings.

He was briefing newsmen after presiding over the sixth inter-provincial conference on law and order here at the Civil Secretariat.

“Sindh has not so far given a strong message which it requires to immediately give to address the issue,” he said, adding the law and order in other provinces was satisfactory.

About the abduction case of American journalist Daniel Pearl, he said efforts were being made to arrest some suspects from Toba Tek Singh and Kamalia.

Mr Haider said Qazi Hussain Ahmad showed irresponsibility during the very critical period in the country.

He said those challenging the authority of the state and creating hatred against the government would be arrested.

The minister said that the speed of the deweaponization campaign would be accelerated.

He said that 137,000 weapons had been recovered so far which was a record. But as there still were a lot of illegal weapons, the provinces had been asked to speed up the recovery process.

The authorities concerned have been directed to prepare a data base of all licensed weapons and arms dealers. After completion of the job, it would be decided whether or not to issue licences of weapons of non-prohibited bores and to cancel around 22,000 licences of Kalashnikovs, he said.

The minister said the meting decided that all guards of private security agencies would wear dark blue trousers and light blue shirt. The agencies would also be asked to coordinate with their police stations concerned so that the law and order could be improved.

He said the security company act was being introduced in Islamabad. Sindh had already adopted the act and other provinces would too follow the suit. There would be a regulatory body to ensure proper training of the guards to check their efficacy in protecting their clients and fighting against criminals.

The minister said the meeting discussed various issues in the light of the President Musharraf’s Jan 12 speech regarding the establishment of the writ of the government and rule of law in the country.

The interior secretary had already prepared and discussed with all home secretaries an action plan in this regard which the conference discussed in detail.

He said that the conference discussed the situation pertaining to sectarian terrorism and religious extremism. It was decided to prepare a data base of main leaders of sectarian parties and groups who had been indulging in violence and spreading sectarian hatred, and against whom cases had been registered in the past.

Mr Haider said the government had been working on the task for the past quite some time and this would be completed during the next three months. All provinces would take advantage of this data base to keep an eye on the activities of such people, he said.

He said the conference discussed the police reforms in detail. The federal government had on Saturday released funds to the provinces for the purchase of vehicles and motorcycles for the investigators, he said.

The interior minister said after the separation of the investigation side, the government was now going to introduce a prosecution service in police. A lot of work had been done in this regard and some provinces would hopefully adopt this system during the next few weeks, he said.

He said the meeting discussed Sindh’s pilot project of creating a data base of all the 20,000 prisoners in its 16 jails. This was a good model, he said, hoping that all provinces would adopt it to streamline the data of their jails on modern lines.

The minister said the computerized data of jails and prisoners would also be provided to the judiciary to strengthen the link among police, jails and the judiciary so as to fight crime in the country.

There were 80,000 prisoners in 35 jails in the country and out of them 2/3rd were under trial, showing a slow pace of the disposal of cases in courts, he said.

He said the model national motor vehicle registration authority would soon start functioning in Islamabad and the provinces would follow the suit. The national and provincial level consolidation of the record of all vehicles in the country would help recover all taxes on them and prevent their inter-provincial theft, he said.

Replying to questions, the said that Sindh had been directed to pay a special attention towards controlling sectarian killing.

“Umer Sheikh had nothing to do with the murder of my brother,” he said.

Mr Haider denied that the government had allowed American agencies, particularly the FBI, to work in Pakistan. “We had hired the services of only two FBI experts in the Daniel Pearl case,” he said.

He said 2,200 activists of the banned organizations were arrested and according to a policy those dissociating from their groups and admitting their ‘mistakes’ in writing would be released.

About action against jihadi outfits, the minister said one should not mix them with sectarian groups. Action against jihadi outfits on their illegal activities was not a new phenomenon.

He said according to the policy everybody must have to follow the law of the land and no-one could be allowed to brandish arms or to collect funds. According to the decision, the law of the land would be applied equally on all. Mr Haider said Qazi Hussain Ahmad was a respected leader of an important political party who had every right to differ with the government. But he instigated people and army jawans against the government. This was a state related issue and action should be taken against him, he said.

When a newsman explained that the JI leader was being detained on a three-year-old FIR and as to why the government was not registering a sedition case against him if it believed that he was involved in anti-state activities, the minister said: “Recommend it in writing, and we will register the case.”