Islamabad: Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s son and brother were among 44 members of the banned militant outfits arrested Tuesday by authorities in Pakistan, amid mounting pressure from the global community on Islamabad to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil.
“We have taken 44 people in custody as part of crackdown on militant groups,” Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said at a press conference here.
Ministry of Interior Secretary, Azam Suleman Khan said Hammad Azhar and Mufti Abdur Rauf were among those arrested on Tuesday. Hammad is the son of Azhar while Rauf is his brother. Khan informed a dossier shared by India with Pakistan last week also contained names of Rauf and Hammad. “It does not mean that action is being taken against only those individuals who are mentioned in the dossier,” he added.
India last week handed over the dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as terrorists.
Afridi, however, said the action was not taken due to any pressure. “This is our own initiative…We won’t allow the use of our soil against any country,” asserted the minister.
Khan said the action would be taken against all the proscribed organisations under the National Action Plan, which was formulated after an attack on an army school in Peshawar in 2014 that killed nearly 150 people, mostly children. “This is across the board – we don’t want to give the impression that we are against one organisation,” he said.
He also informed that the crackdown will continue for two weeks and actions against the arrested members will be taken on the basis of evidence.
Responding to a question, Khan said Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation would be banned within 24 hours.
The US last month asked Pakistan to ‘freeze without delay’ the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders. Pakistan is also under pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing.
PTI