ISLAMABAD, June 12: The government has placed the names of over 2,000 activists of 18 outlawed organisations on a watch list, effectively barring them from leaving their hometowns without permission of the district coordination officers concerned, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema.

He told reporters at a weekly briefing on the law and order situation that security agencies were monitoring the activities of people on the watch list to curb their involvement in anti-state and terrorist activities.

“People on the watch list have submitted affidavits, giving assurance to limit their involvement in political activities, public meetings, anti-government campaigns and even travel outside their home-towns without prior permission. If they are found to be involved in violating pledges on the affidavits, they can be arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act,” he remarked.

The organisations so far banned by the government include Al Qaeda, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Sipah-i-Muhammad Pakistan, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Tehrik-i-Jafriya, Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi, Tehrik-i-Islam (formerly known as Tehrik-i-Jafriya Pakistan), Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan (formerly known as Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan), Islami Tehrik Pakistan, Jamiatul Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbul Tehrir, Khair-un-Naas International Trust, Balochitan Liberation Army and Islamic Students Movement of Pakistan.

Activists of the Sunni Tehrik and the Jamaat-ul-Dawa are also under strict surveillance.

The interior ministry’s spokesman said monitoring of the activists of the banned organisations started after the launching of a campaign against terrorism and extremism in July 2005 and the number of activists under surveillance had gone up to 2,000.

He said that during the 21-month campaign, the government had focused on six areas — activists of banned organisations, publishing and sale of hate literature, clerics fanning sectarian hatred, misuse of loudspeakers, collection of donations and display of arms.