ISLAMABAD: Despite the recent emergence of previously unheard of militant organisations which have claimed credit for terrorist attacks, the PML-N government has not banned a single one since coming to power.
In fact, no organisation has been banned since the PPP-led government’s tenure ended. The last time any such exercise was carried out was in March last year when the PPP government outlawed 14 organisations.
The interior ministry, currently run by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, is responsible for banning such organisations. The exercise of banning organisations commenced under the rule of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.
According to the National Internal Security Policy (NISP), 60 organisations have been banned since 2001 by the interior ministry. The policy was presented in the National Assembly on Feb 26 this year.
Basharatullah, a Supreme Court lawyer who has represented scores of terrorism suspects in courts, says once an organisation is banned “all its acts, such as collection of funds, gatherings and campaigns, can be prosecuted under terrorism laws”.
However, the practice has its critics. Amir Rana, who heads the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies and has written extensively on militancy, says management of the list of banned organisations is a “complete mystery”.
“Nobody knows what mechanism the government follows to first add an organisation to the list and then ensure its strict implementation.”
Implementation would mean that the organisation is not allowed to carry out any activity in the country. But most of the banned organisations continue to run their operations after changing names, Rana says.
Talking to Dawn, a senior federal government official involved in law enforcement said the interior ministry, with its limited resources, did try to follow the trail of the banned outfits. He expressed hope that monitoring would improve once the NISP was implemented.
When asked why the PML-N government had not banned militant outfits such as Ahrarul Hind, which emerged recently to claim responsibility for some devastating terrorist attacks, the official argued that such measures did not solve the problem.
“The only way forward,” he added, “was to bring every culprit involved in heinous crimes to justice.”
It is not clear how the PML-N plans to achieve this, but for the moment it seems that it is not going to follow the previous two governments’ policy of banning organisations.
According to the NISP, organisations were first banned in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the US. The first two outfits to be banned were Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and Sipah-i-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP), registered in the name of Allama Syed Muhammad Raza Naqvi in Aug 2001.
The next year, the process gained momentum as six more entities made it to the list, including Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).
In 2003, Al Qaeda topped the list of organisations which were outlawed, followed by Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan (which was then the reincarnation of SSP) of Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi; Khuddam-ul-Islam (the new face of JM) of Maulana Masood Azhar, etc.
During 2004 and 2005, only one outfit — Khair-un-Naas International Trust registered by Abu Shoaib — was added to the list. And in 2006 Hyarbyar Marri’s Balochistan Liberation Army and the Islamic Student Movement of Pakistan were added to the list.
After the 2008 elections, PPP’s Rehman Malik put four new parties on the list, including Lashkar-e-Islam,Ansar-ul-Islam and most importantly Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
After a year’s silence, in 2010 the government added five more organisations to the list, among them the Balochistan Republican Army, Balochistan Liberation Front and Balochistan Liberation United Front.
In 2011, Mr Malik’s ministry turned its attention to Gilgit Baltistan where it slapped the ban on three groups. The Peoples Amn Committee (Lyari) was also banned this year.
The next year 12 groups were banned, including Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, which was another reincarnation of the SSP, Jaish-e-Islam and Balochistan National Liberation Army.
The trend continued during the last year of the PPP government. Interestingly, all 14 entities which were banned in 2013 were declared illegal on March 15, the last day of Mr Malik as minister. Most of these organisations were linked either to the violence in Fata or in Balochistan. A number of foreign-led militias, which are said to be operating out of Fata, were also banned.
Apart from domestic concerns, Pakistan has to abide by its international obligations and ban certain organisations.
Three organisations face sanctions under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267. Unanimously adopted in 1999, with a special focus on Afghanistan, the council established a sanctions regime to cover individuals and entities associated with Al Qaeda and Taliban wherever located.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Al-Rashid Trust of Mufti Rasheed were enlisted under the UNSCR list on December 10, 2008.