Pakistan bans 11 groups for having links with JuD, JeM terror groups

The Pakistan government has banned 11 Lahore-based organisations for having links with proscribed outifts JeM led by global terrorist Masood Azhar, JuD of 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the FIF.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Azhar was designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations on May 1.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers and led to a spike in military tensions between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan in February banned Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) amidst intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups.

The decision to ban the 11 organisations was taken during a meeting between Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan and Interior Minister Ijaz Shah on Friday.

After the February 14 Pulwama attack, in which 40 Indian security personnel were killed by a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based JeM, Khan had said Islamabad would not spare any group involved in militancy or using Pakistani soil for any kind of terror activity against other countries.

Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which works under the Ministry of Interior, announced on its website that seven groups have been banned for their affiliation with the JuD, which was proscribed in March by the Pakistan government.

The organisation which have been proscribed are Al-Anfal Trust, Idara Khidmat-e-Khalaq, Al-Dawat ul Irshad, Mosques & Welfare Trust, Al-Medina Foundation, Mazz-Bin-Jabel Education Trust and Al-Hamad Trust, the statement said.

All these groups are Lahore-based.

Pakistan's Ministry of Interior took the action on the government's directive to speed up implementation of the National Action Plan of 2015 to eliminate militancy and extremism from the country's soil.

Apart from the seven, Lahore-based Al-Fazal Foundation/Trust and Al-Easar Foundation were also banned for having links with the FIF, the NACTA said.

The FIF, like JuD, was also banned in March by the Pakistan government.

According to the NACTA, Bahawalpur-based Al-Rehmat Trust Organization and Karachi-based Al-Furqan Trust were also banned on Friday for having links with the JeM, which was banned in January 2002.

Recently, the government announced to take control of more than 30,000 religious seminaries.