Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Pakistan Bans 23 Militant Outfits

Pakistan Bans 23 Militant Outfits, The Times of India, 6 July 2010

EXCERPT: "In the wake of twin-suicide blasts on the shrine of Data Ganj Baksh in Lahore, Pakistan has banned 23 militant organizations, except Jammat ud Dawa (JuD), which were operating under new names after having been outlawed by the previous military regime and put the name of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed on the Exit Control List (ECL). The Punjab government has directed police to keep a strict vigil on 1,690 office-bearers and workers of the banned outfits. Sipah-i-Sahaba, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Laskar-e-Taiba, Tehrik-i-Jafria, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Harkatul Mujahideen, Hizbul Tahrir, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Muhammad had been banned by the Musharraf government in 2002, but most of them started their activities with new names. Sipah-i-Sahaba was renamed as Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan, Jaish-i-Muhammad as Alfurqan and Khuddamul Islam and Tehrik-i-Jafria as Islami Tehrik Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba as Jamaatud Dawa. However, Hizbul Tehrir did not change its name. According to the Punjab’s home department, Jamaat ud Dawa of Hafiz Saeed has not been restricted like others, but Mr Saeed and his two associates have been barred from travelling abroad."

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Related articles:
JuD a terror outfit, admits Pakistan, The Times of India, 6 July 2010
Religious fundamentalism main root of violence in Pakistan, The Calgary Herald, 6 July 2010
Pakistan forms taks forces against terror groups, One India, 6 July 2010
Emerging networks of terrorists in Pakistan, Center for Research and Security Studies, 13 June 2010

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Punjabi Taliban split from established militant groups, 17 June 2010
Extremists strive to exploit India-Pakistan water dispute, 2 June 2010
Face to face with Pakistan's most wanted, 26 March 2010
Militant group easily evades ban, 23 February 2010
Punjabi Taliban and the sectarian groups in Pakistan, 19 February 2010

"Winning Back Hearts and Minds" Key to Punjab: Expert

Afghanistan and Pakistan: Gaining a Grip, Chatham House // The World Today, July 2010

EXCERPT: "In the first two weeks of June, a jirga or consultative gathering, in Afghanistan produced a road-map providing a possible way forward in Afghanistan: the new British government made the broadest hints yet that it is planning to withdraw its troops and militants in Pakistan destroyed a convoy of trucks containing supplies for NATO troops there. Of the three events, the last appears most significant. [...] Pakistan faces two threats: first the 'Pakistan Taliban' - formally the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan - which is based in the tribal areas. While it contains a number of factions, it is clearly closely linked to the Afghan Taliban and under regular attack from both the Pakistani military and US drones. [...] The other threat is from what has recently been called the Punjabi Taliban which includes a number of groups, many of which were formed to fight India in Indian-administered Kashmir, such as Lashkar-i-Taiba - of which Jamaat-ud-Dawa is the 'charitable' arm - Jaish-e-Mohammad, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. [...] But in Punjab the groups are an important element of the political economy, particularly in the south. Their charitable wings provide schools and healthcare; some assisted in the relief effort following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. [...] Recently, the Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, was caught campaigning with Maulana Ludhianvi, the head of the SSP. He later justified his action saying there was 'no harm' in trying to persuade militant groups to enter the political mainstream. Given the blurring between state and non-state actors in the region, such military action in Punjab would make delineating between Taliban and non-Taliban in Afghanistan something of a cake-walk. [...] If Pakistan is to avoid the trap into which Afghanistan has fallen, attempting to win back hearts and minds in Punjab would appear to be an utmost priority."

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Related articles:
In Afghanistan the cost in sacrifice is high, but that cost must be paid, The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 June 2010
Illusions in Punjab, Foreign Policy // The AfPak Channel, 19 June 2010
AfPak behind the lines: Punjab's growing militant problem, Foreign Policy // The AfPak Channel, 22 June 2010
Pakistan conflicted over targeting rising extremists in its heartland, The Washington Post, 22 June 2010

Related posts:
Punjabi Taliban split from established militant groups, 17 June 2010
Terror groups join forces, form "networked outfit", 11 June 2010
Punjab extremists more numerous, more entrenched than NW Taliban, 7 June 2010
Despite govt's denials, police report suggests Talibanization of Punjab, 17 May 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010

Extremists Strive to Exploit India-Pakistan Water Dispute

Rhetoric Grows Heated in Water Dispute Between India, Pakistan, The Washington Post, 28 May 2010

EXCERPT: "The latest standoff between India and Pakistan features familiar elements: perceived Indian injustices, calls to arms by Pakistani extremists. But this dispute centers on something different: water. Militant organizations traditionally focused on liberating Indian-held Kashmir have adopted water as a rallying cry, accusing India of strangling upstream rivers to desiccate downstream farms in Pakistan's dry agricultural heartland. This spring, a religious leader suspected of links to the 2008 Mumbai attacks led a protest here of thousands of farmers driving tractors and carrying signs warning: 'Water Flows or Blood.' The cleric, Hafiz Sayeed, recently told worshipers that India was guilty of 'water terrorism.' India and Pakistan have pledged to improve relations. But Sayeed's water rhetoric, echoed in shrill headlines on both sides of the border, encapsulates two issues that threaten those fragile peace efforts - an Indian dam project on the shared Indus River and Pakistan's reluctance to crack down on Sayeed."

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Related articles:
Indo-Pak talks end with resolution of three project, Express India, 2 June 2010
US asks Pakistan to act against LeT, other anti-India groups, Hindustan Times, 2 June 2010
"Pakistan, India can solve water issue with goodwill" [interview], The Hindu, 1 June 2010

Related media:
Indo-Pak water dispute [video], The Express Tribune via YouTube, 2 June 2010

Related posts:
Pakistan, India unable to reach consensus over water, 31 March 2010
US shifts focus to Pakistan's economic, energy and water challenges, 4 March 2010
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010

Supreme Court Releases Alleged Mumbai Mastermind

SC Upholds Release of Cleric Linked to Mumbai, DAWN, 25 May 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld Tuesday the freedom of the head of a charity linked to the Mumbai attacks and blacklisted in the West, quashing government appeals against his release from house arrest. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who heads the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa and who founded the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) faction blamed by India and the United States for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was declared a free man by a court in Lahore last year. The verdict had been challenged by Pakistan’s federal and Punjab provincial governments, but the country’s highest court ruled there was insufficient evidence the 60-year-old should be detained. With the charity linked by India to the Mumbai attacks, the ruling was greeted with disappointment in New Delhi, with whom Islamabad wants to resume peace talks that broke down after the Mumbai attacks. The decision was also likely to ruffle Washington, which sees the charity as a terror group and has put pressure on Pakistan to round up Dawa members."

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Related articles:
Pakistan court prevents arrest of hardline cleric, The Associated Press, 25 May 2010
India disappointed over Pakistan Supreme Court decision on Hafiz Saeed, Press Trust India, 25 May 2010

Related media:
Interview: Hafiz Muhammed Saeed [video], Al Jazeera via YouTube, 17 February 2010

Related posts:
Pakistan's Mumbai suspects may walk free, 5 May 2010
Pakistan reluctant to rein in LeT: US experts, 12 March 2010
India-Pakistan meeting a "first step" in rebuilding confidence, 25 February 2010
Militant group easily evades ban, 23 February 2010
New controls on militant charities stifle eid fundraiser, 8 December 2009
Lashkar-e-Taiba: One year after Mumbai, 26 November 2009

Militant Group Easily Evades Ban

Pakistani Militant Group Easily Evades Ban, The Washington Post, 23 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Long-haired jihadis toting automatic weapons patrolled a mosque last week as the cleric who heads the militant network blamed for the Mumbai attacks preached inside. The group's supporters collected funds in the courtyard and later marched through this eastern Pakistani city, calling for the death of those who insult Islam. Pakistan announced a ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa - sealing the group's offices, freezing assets and rounding up leaders - amid international outrage after the 2008 siege of the Indian financial capital. But the group has scored a few wins in court against the government and is up and running again, exposing Islamabad's unwillingness to fully crack down on militants who target India, its longtime enemy. The resurgence of the group could chill the first round of peace talks between Pakistan and India since the attacks."

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Related articles:
Pakistan cracks down on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2009
UN declares Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist group, The Long War Journal, 11 December 2008

Related posts:
India's focus on security detrimental to talks: Pakistan, 18 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2009
India-Pakistan relations post-Mumbai terrorist attacks, 19 January 2010
Lashkar-e-Taiba: One year after Mumbai, 26 November 2009
New controls on militant charities stifle Eid fundraiser, 8 December 2009