PHOTO: AFP
The government has finally moved in to rein in Islamic State’s (IS) presence in Pakistan, blacklisting all groups which have expressed their sympathies for the ultra-extremist group, also known as Dai’sh.
“We have formally included IS/Dai’sh to the list of banned outfits this month,” an interior ministry official confirmed to The Express Tribune on Friday. “We have notified it and with this new addition, 213 organisations have been formally proscribed in Pakistan.”
Although the government has long denied that IS – which is banned under a United Nations sanctions regime – has a footprint in Pakistan, the official said security forces have been tasked with foiling the efforts of local terrorists to join up or develop links with the ulta-extremist group in the Middle East.
He said the interior ministry had also previously banned some 171 groups proscribed under multiple UN resolutions on the request of the Foreign Office. The ministry had also proscribed 61 other organisations involved in anti-state and terrorist activities locally.

“Under the UN Security Council’s resolutions, Pakistan is bound to include IS in its list of proscribed organisations,” an FO official said.
Read: Islamic State struggle to make progress in Afghanistan
The foreign ministry, in a seven-point strategy document – a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune – said Pakistan’s top security agencies have been directed to immediately adopt measure to counter ‘the emerging IS threat’ in the country. The strategy has also been shared with the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Former interior minister Rehman Malik termed the move to ban IS and its affiliates in Pakistan a positive step. However, he stressed that the government will have to find a way to rein in the group’s sympathisers in the country and choke the foreign funding they receive.
Read: Islamic State’s Jihadi John reveals his face for the first time
Defence analyst Brig (retd) Mahmood Shah, meanwhile, said the move would give a clear message to certain Muslim countries which are reportedly funding IS activities. He added that it would pave the way for Pakistan’s security forces and law-enforcement agencies to choke the funding of the group and other banned outfits in Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2015.














By “certain Muslim countries” , he is referring to the Saudis.Recommend
IS is now the government of a country in the middle east comprising territories formerly belonging to Iraq and Syria. Proscribing them is going to bite us in the behind in the future when we need to engage with them diplomatically and economically. Let’s not forget that they control vast oil reserves and there is a market there for our agricultural exports.Recommend
@Johar:
Have you given this advice to US and Western powers? Let them recognise it and we’ll follow suit as their need for oil is greater than ours. For that matter even India’s.Recommend
@Mian: I think India is already in touch with IS. Anyone against Pakistan is a friend of India as per the Chankia doctrine. Recommend
How fast we take decisions. ISIS emerged in last decade and now we are going to banned this terrorist outfit. Recommend
ISIS is probably rolling on the ground laughing since they have be declared a “proscribed” group like so many dozen others in Pakistan!
After all, they no doubt see how many officially “banned” groups openly hold rallies and raise money in Pakistan with no response from the government!
Who knows, next they will create a “Charity” front just like LeT!Recommend
@Mian:
Your information is not correct. US no more needs oil from middle-east. They are self sufficient.Recommend
@Usman:
no bro its IndiaRecommend
@JSM: Hard to believe. Then why have they set ME in turmoil? Something that they want desperately from the region have let them recarve the region. BTW, IS is selling cheap oil to US and the West to fund their sources. Now you see why Is has not been pursued hotly.Recommend
@JSM:
You are mistaken. US is the second largest importer of crude oil in the world. Only the Chinese import more. Their media has been hyping up their shale oil industry but the facts are undeniable. The US is heavily dependent on imported oil.Recommend