LAHORE, Feb 21: The Punjab government has decided to release 100 activists of jihadi and sectarian groups before Eid who were among the 700 arrested in a countrywide crackdown in January.

Official sources told Dawn on Thursday that the home department would issue the notification in this regard till Friday morning. The Punjab IGP, prison authorities and other high-ups have been informed about the decision.

Elderly and sick men, teenagers and those found having no links with the jihadi or sectarian organizations, employees of some seminaries and students, who were picked up because of their presence there, would be at liberty.

Sources said the decision to release the activists before Eidul Azha was taken after their families contacted high-ups, claiming their innocence and lodged protests at different fora.

The Punjab home department reportedly divided the arrested men into three categories to separate the activists of banned militant groups and members of other jihadi outfits from those who had been picked up only on suspicion.

People who had given undertaking that they were implicated and that they had no affiliation or have any link with any jihadi organization in future had been placed in first category.

Second category includes people who gave undertakings that they would sever links with the jihadi outfits. The government asked these activists to submit surety bonds against their commitment.

People who have challenged their arrest constitute the third category.

Sources said that people belonging to the first two categories were being released.

The order to release the 100 activists would be conveyed to all heads of districts’ police and prison authorities in the Punjab sometime on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the Lahore chapter of the Pak-Afghan Defence Council has demanded unconditional release of all leaders and workers of religious parties.

It also condemned “the harassment of the arrested leaders and workers and their families, and the condition of signing millions of rupees bonds for securing their release.”

Briefing newsmen council’s Punjab president Hafiz Muhammad Idrees said on Thursday that ulema and khateeb would lodge a protest against the arrest of religious leaders and workers and the policies of the government during their speeches on Eidul Azha.

He said conventions of ulema at divisional and district level would be arranged.

The meeting demanded that America should provide all facilities to the mujahideen arrested from Afghanistan which were normally allowed to prisoners of war.

It also condemned the government’s threats to jihadi outfits and the removal of banners by madaris, requesting people to donate hides of sacrificial animals to them.

The meeting demanded that the government should ensure the release of all Pakistanis arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to ask America to vacate all bases, to use army for its real role instead of asking India for peace, and to stop bowing before America as it would one day demand winding up of Pakistan army.