Police widen hunt for militants

LAHORE: Police have widened the hunt for suspects linked to outlawed militant groups in southern Punjab as reports of more arrests filtered through on Monday.

Up to 78 suspects - more than double the number picked up in Saturday night’s and Sunday’s raids – have been detained under sections 3 and 16 of the Maintenance Public Ordinance (MPO) since July 10, police officials said here.

The arrests – carried out in four ranges/divisions of the province  – were made on the basis of a consolidated home department list prepared in 1990 and also the fourth schedule of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997. The fourth schedule – long derided as a black law by the leaders of the banned groups – compels a detainee to inform the local police about his or her movements.

Sources in the police department reveal that law enforcement personnel have begun mounting an operation against the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.  This was preceded by a crackdown on the first line of Siphah-e-Sahaba and Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan, which are operating under new names in southern Punjab.

Muhammad Saleem, a tehsil president of Jaish-e-Muhammad, was rounded up early Monday by Rahimyar Khan police.

Several villages of of Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar – a stronghold of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi – have also been raided by the police. Security officials believe that Matiur Rehman, one of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s most wanted fugitives who has over 10 million cash prize on his head, is hiding somewhere.

Several villages located near the River Sutlej as well as homes belonging to Rehman’s relatives were also raided for the first time. One relative of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi activist was rounded up during a late night raid on Sunday.

Babar Bakht Qureshi,  the acting regional police officer of Bahawalpur and the district police officer, told The Express Tribune that until now police had arrested 16 members of banned organisations. The detained suspects were accused of  involvement in promoting the agendas of the banned organisations.

Qureshi  vowed  that the operation would continue until the last miscreant in his range was rounded up.

The district police officer of Rahimyar Khan told The Express Tribune that he had arrested two activists of banned organisations and named one of them as Muhammad Khaldi of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.

He said that the rest of all the suspected activists under fourth schedule of ATA had been called by the respective police stations for renewal of their surety bonds. All the fourth schedule suspects have been asked to stay in touch with police and inform police stations about their movements.

Dera Ghazi Khan police officer Ahmad Mubarak told The Express Tribune that 28 activists had been picked up from the four districts of his range. Mubarak said he had devised a strong information network to back up the police operation against banned organisations.

Police in Multan have arrested 25 suspects from its three districts, according to RPO Arif Ikram. However, he refused to disclose the whereabouts of the detained activists. Another eight suspects were picked up from two districts of Sahiwal range on July 11.

Police officials say they have prepared a lengthy questionaire which must be filled out by people coming under the fourth schedule. They said the questions pertained to the data of suspects and about their relatives, friends, businesses, addresses and other  information, etc.

RPO Multan Ahmad Mubarak says the form has proven useful because it is helping policemen gather information about the outlawed groups.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2010.