Punjab issues list of 73 banned outfits; four political parties under observation

List includes Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaisha-e-Muhammad, Sipha-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan

LAHORE: The Punjab Home Department, under the National Action Plan, has barred banned outfits from collecting the hides of sacrificial animals and issued a list of the proscribed organisations.

Under the plan, action will be taken against people who collect hides forcibly. The Punjab Home Department has also warned people not to give hides of animals to banned organisations. It added that a strategy has been devised to strictly monitor the situation during the three days of Eidul Azha.

The department issued a list of 73 banned organisations and four political parties that are under observation. However, these organisations do not fall under the category of banned outfits.

The list aims to inform the public about which organisations had been banned under the Anti-Terrorist Act 1997 and United Nations Security Council resolution of 1948.

Some of the banned which have been declared banned are Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaisha-e-Muhammad, Sipha-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan.

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Providing aid or facilitating these banned outfits is an offense punishable by a minimum of five to ten years in prison, while a fine of Rs10 million can be imposed.

The home department has said that the Punjab government has taken over 599 seminaries, schools, dispensaries, hospitals and ambulances of banned organisations into their custody. It asserted that these groups should not be given any kind of donation.

Source said that these banned outfits are being monitored strictly so that they don’t collect hides in any way.

Additional Chief Secretary Home Syed Ali Murtaza Shah said no banned party or organisation would be allowed to collect animal hides. Cases will be lodged against those who are involved in snatching or forceful collection of hides, he added.

Shah said the security of internal and external routes of major cities has also been tightened. Law enforcement agencies have been put on alert.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2019.