Scrutiny of seminaries begins

Intelligence agencies have identified some seminaries having links with the terrorist organisations. An official said that according to a report of intelligence shared during a meeting regarding the implementation of 19 points of National Action Plan (NAP), the agencies have started at various levels a three-tier scrutiny of seminaries suspected of having links with the terrorist organisations for devising an action plan against seminaries.
"Security agencies will take action against seminaries having links with terrorist organisations after completion of their scrutiny," he said. He said the meeting was informed that so far 95 suspects, who have been accused of maintaining links with terrorist organisations, have been arrested during an intelligence-based operation.
According to a report issued by Ministry of Interior regarding the progress of NAP, Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan held a review meeting regarding the implementation of the plan. The meeting was also attended by National Co-ordinator National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and senior officials of Ministry of Interior. The meeting discussed a point-wise update on the NAP implementation.
The report said that regarding cases to be forwarded to speedy trial courts, the provinces have been asked to devise a multi-faceted scrutiny process which will further be fine-tuned by the Ministry of Interior before forwarding cases to the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Interior is engaged with the provincial governments and military authorities to evolve a system as mandated by the 21st Constitutional Amendment. However, the number and scope of cases to be referred to the Military Courts and the level and stages of scrutiny in this regard are currently being worked out.
According to the report, out of 140 million un-verified mobile SIMs, so far 40 million SIMS have been verified. The government has set a 90-day deadline for verification of 100 million unverified SIMS, he said. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar issued directives that after the expiry of deadline no leniency will be shown towards any unverified/illegal SIM or the company, he said. The meeting was informed that a legislation has also been proposed to declare issuance and use of illegal SIMs a cognisable offence, he said.
The report said that over 200 persons have been arrested during a search operation in the country. Registration of Afghan refugees has been started in all Provinces and Punjab alone has registered 7,000 Afghan refugees, who were previously un-registered, through a biometric verification system, the report said.
According to the NAP, Afghan refugees will be shifted back to their camps during the next phase and later a course will be devised for their repatriation to Afghanistan through UNHCR, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and due deliberations with the Afghan government. The report said the National Counter Terrorism Help Line 1717 has received 358 calls during the last nine days which were promptly conveyed to relevant forums but most of them were found to be in-actionable or inaccurate.
72 organisations have been declared as proscribed by the Ministry of Interior and a comprehensive analysis/assessment review is under way to identify the number of active proscribed organisations working under some other names. It is also to be ascertained how many of them have armed wings, operating inside or outside the country. During a crackdown against the misuse of loudspeakers/hate material in the country, 176 cases have been registered against the violations of the Loudspeaker Act in the federal capital and 115 persons were arrested.
An integrated Directorate of Internal Security supported and complemented by Joint Intelligence Directorate is being established, which will house representatives of all the intelligence agencies, in co-ordination with Ministry of Interior and it will act as a central data centre to receive, disseminate and take follow-up actions on actionable intelligence received from all over the country.