Notwithstanding denial, Pakistan continues to be the epicentre of terrorism with as many as 69 outlawed outfits many of which continue with their activities despite the ban. Half of India’s total 41 banned terrorist groups are either based in Pakistan or their leadership are based in the neighbouring country or the organisations are sponsored by Pakistan government-military combine.
Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA) has so far declared 69 terrorist organisations as banned, most of which are active despite the proscription.
Pakistan has especially turned a blind eye to major terrorists groups such as the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Al Badr operating in Jammu & Kashmir, sources said.
Amid the escalating pressure on Pakistan from the international community over Jaish-e-Mohammad’s role in Pulwama attack, Islamabad on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, Apparently, this was a ploy to seek grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). As many as 40 CRPF men were killed in the suicide bombing on a paramilitary convoy by the JeM on February 14.
The JuD’s network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers who recruit gullible youth for terrorism in the garb of charity, sources said.
According to the NCTA, a sizeable number of the organisations, declared as outlawed by Pakistan, are based in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). They have been banned to quell any movement against suppression by the Pakistan military, sources said.
According to inputs with the Union Home Ministry, almost half of India’s total 41 banned terrorist groups are either based in Pakistan or their leadership are based in the neighbouring country or the organisations are sponsored by the government-military complex in Islamabad.
The Pakistan-sponsored groups include the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-E-Tayyeba, Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen, Al Badr, Dukhtaran-E-Millat, Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Commando Force and International Sikh Youth Federation.
The NCTA started declaring organisations as proscribed in 2001, by banning Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). The LeJ is based in Pakistan with limited operations in Afghanistan.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Afghanistan), Balochistan Republican Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Balochistan Liberation United Front, Tanzeem Naujawana-e-Ahle Sunnat, Gilgit, Anjuman-e- Imamia Gilgit Baltistan and Muslim Students Organization (MSO) Gilgit are among the banned organisations, as per the NCTA documents.
Others in the NCTA list are the Abdullah Azam Brigade (Lebanon, Syria and Arabian Peninsula), East Turkemenistan Islamic Movement (Turkey, Afghanistan), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan) and Islamic Jihad Union (Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Germany).
Two groups — the Ghulaman-e-Sahaba and the Maymar Trust — have been under the scanner of the Pakistan government while another, Al-Akhtar Trust, has been declared a proscribed organisation under a UN Security Council resolution.
The Hafiz Saeed-led JuD is a front organization for the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.
It was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.
Even though JeM, responsible for the Pulwama terror attack, and LeT, responsible for the 26/11 attack, were banned by Pakistan, founders of both the terrorist groups — Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed respectively — are roaming freely in Pakistan and are patronised by the Pakistan government as well as military. Azhar is undergoing treatment for renal failure at the army base hospital in Bahawalpur. The Pakistan Government has re-branded Hafiz Sayeed as a democrat by fielding him in the last general elections.