The Upper House of the Parliament was informed on Wednesday that Jamatud Dawa (JuD), a banned militant outfit, has been placed in the suspect lists, after a local court allowed the proscribed organisation to undertake charity work. Responding to a motion moved by Senator Farhatullah Babr of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) regarding restrictions on banned militant outfits to resurrect under a different name or as charity organisation, State Minister for Interior Baligur Rehman said that the activities of all proscribed organisations were being closely monitored.
He said that the Interior Ministry maintained a list of all proscribed organisations, adding that they have been placed on a suspect list, and if they were found involved in any kind of suspicious activities, strict action will be taken against them. "The JuD is undertaking charity work as Lahore High Court (LHC) has allowed to carry out philanthropic activities, and this is the reason it [JuD] operates in different parts of the country as charity organisations," he added.
The lawmakers raised questioned over the silence of the government despite knowing that a banned outfit is operating freely across the country, as it is listed a terror outfit by the UN and its chief Professor Hafiz Saeed has a $10 million US government bounty against him.
Senator Babar said that permitting banned outfits to resurrect under different names ostensibly as charity organisations undermined the state's credibility in fighting militancy.
He said that the government had admitted that JuD was a reincarnation of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and was allowed to function because of a court order, adding the government had then failed to provide a copy of the court judgement despite chairman's order and the minister's promise to do so by the next day.
He said the issue had become even more urgent after the announcement by President Ashraf Ghani to dissociate himself from Pakistan sponsored peace talks with Taliban alleging that the government of Pakistan did not have the same definition of terrorism in regard to Afghanistan just as it had for its own meaning thereby that some select groups continued to be harboured and protected by state agencies.
Babar said that the government had still not provided him copy of the court order that allowed JuD to operate despite the passage of one month, the Chairman's order, the Minister's promise and a letter written on the subject by him. "This raised serious questions and misgivings about our intent and designs," he said.
Welcoming the Ufa agreement to approve meeting of NSAs to "discuss all issues related to terrorism" he said that it provided an opportunity for addressing the issue in right earnest. Lieutenant General Abdul Qayum (Retd) said that the banned militant outfits must not be allowed to reappear through different names. He said that the enemies of Pakistan could not digest the breakthrough in the recently held talks between Afghanistan and Taliban hosted by Pakistan.
"We know the past of Abdullah Abdullah (the Afghan chief executive) but we respect Ashraf Ghani (Afghan president) as a statement, as he must not be misguided by people like Abdullah Abdullah...at the same time we should not suspect the intentions of our establishment," he added. Senator Usman Khan Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) alleged that Pakistan still interfered in the internal matters of Afghanistan, adding that if this remained our attitude, Ashraf Ghani, who proceeded with the peace talks with Taliban, would be left with no options but 'calling a spade a spade'. Dr Karim Ahmed Khawaja of PPP also demanded that banned militant outfits must not be allowed to operate under different names under the guise of charity organisations.
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