Countrywide sweeps: 727 ‘hardcore terrorists’ arrested since December 24

Report says over 32,000 suspects have been arrested under National Action Plan.

ISLAMABAD: Around 32,347 suspects, including 727 hardcore terrorists, have been rounded up in nationwide raids since December 24 last year under the National Action Plan against terrorism.

Authorities have stepped up counterterrorism operations since Taliban gunmen massacred 150 people, mostly schoolchildren, in a brazen attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School on December 16, 2014.

A law enforcement report submitted on Saturday to the prime minister based on information till March 25 states that the security agencies have conducted 28,826 operations throughout the country under the NAP aimed at ridding the country of extremism and terrorism.

Of these, 14,791 raids were carried out in Punjab; 5,517 in Sindh; 6,461 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P); 84 in Balochistan; 405 in Islamabad; 1,394 in Azad Kashmir; 83 in Gilgit-Baltiststan (G-B); and 91 operations were in conducted in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

During the crackdowns, the security agencies arrested 2,798 suspected criminals from Punjab; 6,467 in Sindh; 18,619 in K-P; 3,483 in Balochistan; 762 in Islamabad; nine in Azad Kashmir; 30 from G-B and 179 in Fata. Another 37 criminals were killed.

Of the executions carried out since the lifting of the moratorium on death penalty, 61 convicts have been hanged with 47 in Punjab, 11 in Sindh, one in K-P and two in Azad Kashmir.

For loudspeaker violations, the police have arrested 3,938 people with 3,214 in Punjab, 176 in Sindh, 451 in K-P, 94 in Islamabad and three in Balochistan. Another 887 cases have been registered for hate speech with 918 people arrested and around 70 shops sealed for selling hate literature.

Similarly, 18,855 Afghan refugees have been deported with 11,216 sent back from Azad Kashmir, 5,996 from K-P, 798 from Balochistan, one from Islamabad, two from G-B and 842 from Fata. Another 354,672 have been registered

The State Bank has, meanwhile, frozen 120 accounts with a balance in sum of Rs10.1 billion. In the same period, the FIA registered 64 cases for money transfer through illegal means and arrested 83 people while recovering Rs101.7 million. Another nine cases were registered for suspicious transactions and 57 cases for money laundering with 50 people detained. Similarly, in cooperation with NADRA, the cellular service providers have verified 59.47 million SIMs.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2015.