ISLAMABAD, April 28: The government has decided to ban all those extremist outfits who have reportedly regrouped under new names.

“It has been seen that some of the religious organizations and Jehadi groups who had been banned, have resumed activities under new names,” Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told reporters here on Monday after close of an Inter-provincial Conference on Law and Order.

The conference was attended by the Secretary Interior Tasneem Noorani, Additional Secretary Interior Iftikhar Ahmad, Director-General of the National Crisis Management Cell, Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema, four inspectors-general of police, heads of civil armed forces, and other concerned officials both from the federal as well as provincial governments.

The minister termed the government’s action against the extremist groups “legal” saying that they had already been banned in Pakistan.

He said that the provincial governments and the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir will take action against these organizations under Section 10 and 11 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC) for renaming banned organizations to meet their nefarious designs.

The interior minister claimed that no one who was connected with any such organization was allowed to contest elections -2202.

He went on to elaborate on the decision taken at the conference, saying a ban on weapon’s display and the use of tinted glass in vehicles would be forcefully implemented.

In order to make the newly-formulated Police Order-2002 effective the federal and provincial authorities have been directed to establish police complaint cells and make the Public Safety Commission operational before the next fiscal year.

Responding to a question about the possibility of an operation against the Taliban in Pakistan the minister said that no such operation was being conducted.

He also rejected reports that the Afghan President Hamid Karzai had handed over any list to Pakistan of persons wanted by the Afghan regime. He said the provincial intelligence and crime investigation departments would be empowered to fight sectarianism and terrorism with more financial autonomy.

The minister disclosed that the FBI personnel would train the staff of Criminal Investigation Departments.

About human trafficking he said the issue was raised in the conference and the FIA had been directed to take effective measures in this connection.

Mr Hayat said an inter-ministerial committee, headed by the secretary interior, was formed to come up with recommendations.

The conference took serious note of the recent incidents of sabotage at the gas pipelines in the tri-juncture of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and decided to hold separate meetings with the Bugti and Mazari tribes.

To a query about “Cyber Crimes”, the minister said a law would shortly be introduced in this regard, something like the one already adopted by various South Asian countries.

He said a Special Intelligence Group was being formed in the FIA, and its staff would be trained to investigate such crimes on scientific lines.