Banks freeze accounts of 4,000 Fourth Schedulers

K-P has yet to submit its list of Fourth Schedulers with NACTA

ISLAMABAD: Commercial banks have been ordered to freeze the accounts of roughly 4,000 people who are on the Fourth Schedule. The State Bank of Pakistan issued the directives on the recommendations of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta).

The Fourth Schedule comprises people found to be or suspected to be involved in anti-state activities, delivering hate speeches and/or activists of religious outfits not yet banned but related with militancy in some way.



“The list [sent by Nacta] carries around 4,000 names,” SBP spokesperson told The Express Tribune on Sunday. “The central bank has ordered commercial banks to freeze the accounts of these people.”

“In September, Nacta had sent a list containing around 3500 names but later more names were added to it,” he said, adding that the final list carried roughly 4,000 names. The spokesman, however, refused to reveal any of the names on the list.

He sought to downplay the move saying that freezing accounts of Fourth Schedulers was not something new. The Express Tribune has learnt that the accounts that have been frozen had Rs350 million in them. The spokesperson, however, would not confirm that.

It has also been learnt that Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar and Ahle Sunat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) leader Muhammad Ahmad Ludhyanvi are among those whose accounts have been frozen. ASWJ spokesman Hafiz Oneeb confirmed to The Express Tribune that a bank account of Ludhyanvi, which had a sum of Rs600,000, has been frozen.



Nacta is still awaiting a list of Fourth Schedulers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which means more banks will be frozen in the days to come.

K-P Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said the provincial government had shared a list with Nacta which carried more than 5,500 names, but the authority asked the government to rationalise the list.

“Intelligence and security agencies are now updating and rationalising the list,” he said and voiced hope that the final list would be shared with Nacta next month.

Under different sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the federal or the provincial government puts the names of suspects on Fourth Schedule. It is a prerogative of district intelligence committees and divisional intelligence committees comprising officials from intelligence and law enforcement agencies to revise the list. However, the suspects have the right to challenge the decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2016.