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Published 20 Feb, 2013 07:38pm

Banned outfits involved in terrorism, Malik tells Senators

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik Wednesday said proscribed organisations are involved in the massacre of Pakistanis and there is no dispute between any religious sects in the country.

Concluding the debate on Quetta killings in the Senate, he said as many as 31 arrested culprits of banned religious outfits have admitted in Karachi that they were on mission to destabilize the country.

Spokesman of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Ehsanullah Ehsan is working for someone else, he said, adding that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jaish-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba are involved in large scale killings in various areas of the country.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is involved in 80 per cent terror incidents in the country, said Malik.

Afghans are involved in 30 per cent crimes in the country. With the closure of illegal mobile SIMS, 80 per cent crimes could be checked. The interior minister said he had suspended mobile service on five occasions and not a single terrorism incident occurred across the country during the mobile closure period.

He said chief ministers of all four provinces should be summoned in Senate to inquire about the measures taken for the security of their people as interior ministry had warned them about looming terror threats.

“Only Punjab government played good role in countering the conveyed threats,” he added.

The minister said he had warned the relevant authorities that carnage will occur in Quetta and Karachi, but the provincial governments did not enhance the security.

Under the 18th constitutional amendment federation can only warn the province about the looming threats and it is the duty of the provinces to take preventive measures to avoid the threats, he said.

Prior to Saturday's Quetta killings, the federal government had informed the provincial government about the looping threat to Hazara tribe people. Federal government has so far issued five terror alerts to government of Balochistan, said Malik.

He said the KP government was also informed about threats to members of the Bilour family. If the provinces do not act promptly, it should not be considered as fault of the federal government and the agencies, he said.

“The federation must not be blamed for the faults of provinces. The law enforcement agencies were working excellently,” he said and urged the parliamentarians to help overcome terrorism and pass anti-terror bill pending with the parliament for last three years.

The minister said he had never stated that Taliban do not exit. Taliban are very much there but recent activities were executed by paid killers of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jesh-e-Muhammad and Sipah-e-Sihaba. Head office of LeJ is in Punjab while sub head office is working in Karachi, he said.

Taliban has so far killed 40,000 Pakistanis but they are not involved in Karachi killings, he said.

A complete strategy has been handed over to Inspector General of FC to control terrorism in Balochistan while it has been decided to declare Saryab road Quetta as red zone.

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