Will ensure ban on groups proscribed by UN: Pak govt

Amid confusion over the status of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led militant outfit JuD, Pakistan government today said it will ensure that all organisations proscribed by the UN are banned in the country.
"There is some confusion regarding the list of banned outfits but I want to make it clear that the government will ban all proscribed organisations mentioned in the blacklist of the United Nations, as Pakistan is a signatory of the UN," Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said in the National Assembly.
Nisar, however, stressed that the government would not ban an organisation under pressure from any country, including the US and India.

He said there was proper procedure to include groups in the list of banned organisations.
"According to the procedure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes to the Ministry of Interior to put a ban on an organisation after the UN announcement to include such proscribed organisations in the blacklist," Nisar said.
Last month the Supreme Court had directed the government to make the list of banned groups public so that people may know about them.

But according to sources, the government is reluctant to issue the list as it is avoiding confrontation with some powerful groups active in its power base of Punjab province.

"The government wants to do it softly as already its hands are full and it does not want any more troubles," an Interior Ministry official said.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam last month had said that Pakistan will follow UN guidelines to outlaw militant groups but questions were raised over the efficacy of the policy after outfits like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organised big public rallies on February 5 observed as 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'.
Reports about the ban on JuD had emerged just before the visit of US President Barack Obama to India to be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day.

However, later Pakistan government sources had indicated that no ban has been imposed on the outfit, which is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group that carried out the attack in Mumbai in November 2008 besides many other strikes in India.
The UN Security Council designated the JuD a front for the LeT after the Mumbai attack. Since then, the UN and US have sanctioned several JuD leaders.