ISLAMABAD - The number of proscribed organisations in the country surges to 63 following a ban imposed by the federal government on two extremist outfits- the Jamat-ul Ahrar (JuA) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami (LeJA).
On November 11, the Ministry of Interior banned the JuA and LeJA, says an updated report on the website of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA). And the ban on the two outfits has been imposed on the recommendations of the NACTA.
According to the list of proscribed organisations, available on the official website of the NACTA, the last militant organisation banned by the federal government was the Islamic State (IS) or Daish that was banned on July 15, 2015. Prior to this, the government had banned 14 different groups simultaneously on March 15, 2013. Earlier, the list of proscribed organizations stood at 61.
The number of “Under Observation Extremists/Militant Organizations” under the Second Schedule has also increased as it has placed two more suspected militant organisations, the Ghulaman-e-Sahaba (GS) and the Maymar Trust, on the list.
Earlier, the list had only one organisation - the Jamaat -ul-Daawa (JuD)- under its observation since Jan 17, 2007.
The GS was placed under observation on June 30, 2016, for a period of six months and the Maymar Trust on August 31, 2016 for the same period. Muhammad Amir Rana, a security analyst, said that the Maymar Trust was the new name of Al-Rashid Trust and the GS was the new name of the banned Sepha-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an organization that is involved in the sectarian killing in the country.
The JuA is considered a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and on August 3, the US State Department designated the JuA as “specially designated global terrorists (SDGTs).
"Following the United State's decision, the Ministry of Interior and the NACTA started completing formalities to enlist the JuA as a banned organisation under the relevant provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997," a senior official of the ministry said.
Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry also maintains a list of banned terrorists' organisations, but this list is maintained in line with the description announced by the United Nations.
According to the US State Department website, the JuA is a splinter group of the TTP based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.
"The group, founded by a former TTP leader in August 2014, has staged multiple attacks in the region targeting civilians, religious minorities, military personnel, and law enforcement, and was responsible for the killing of two Pakistani employees of the US Consulate in Peshawar in early March 2016," it reads.
"In late March 2016, the JuA carried out a suicide assault at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore that killed more than 70 people, nearly half of them women and children, and injured hundreds more. The Easter Sunday attack was the deadliest terror attack in Pakistan since December 2014," the US State Department announced while declaring the JuA a global terrorist outfit.
Since December 2015, the JuA has claimed responsibility for over half of a dozen deadliest attacks on civilians, minorities, law enforcement agencies, etc in different areas of Pakistan. It has been named behind the Mardan district courts attack that claimed some 15 lives and the Quetta civil hospital bombing that claimed over 70 lives, most of them lawyers.
In 2014, the JuA had declared its allegiance to Daish. However, in a statement issued in August 2016 by the JuA, it had quoted its leader, Umer Khalid Khorasani, negating the allegiance.
The LeJA is a splinter group of banned the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) that is involved in sectarian violence across the country including Quetta and Karachi. The group claimed responsibility for attacking the Police Training Academy in Quetta on October 25 in which more than 60 cadets were killed.
Responding a question of The Nation, Rana said that as these two organizations have neither any infrastructure nor bank accounts in Pakistan, and the banning decision would not affect. “The decision, however, would impact the movement of individuals of these organizations as they would come under heightened vigilance,” he said and added: “And secondly, the baning decision will help law enforcement agencies during trial/prosecution of individuals belonging to the two outfits."