[Reader-list] Banned Pakistani groups 'expand'

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Banned Pakistani groups 'expand'
*By Syed Shoaib Hasan
* * BBC News, Islamabad *

Link - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8125039.stm

*Militant groups banned in Pakistan are expanding operations and recruitment
in Pakistani-run Kashmir, according to a government report seen by the BBC.*

The observations are from a detailed secret report submitted to the region's
government on the groups' activities in the city of Muzaffarabad and
elsewhere.

Pakistan banned the groups in 2002 after an attack on India's parliament
brought the two states close to war.

A senior Pakistani minister denied that such a report had been submitted.

"No such report has come before the government which shows that these
organisations have revived their activities," Qamaruzaman Qaira, Pakistan's
Information Minister, told the BBC.

"However, if the report was submitted by a secret agency then that is
another matter altogether," he said.

Pakistan's allies, including the US, have expressed fears regarding the
groups' proliferation and their close links to al-Qaeda.

*'Cover for militancy'*

A copy of the report, which was submitted by regional police to
Pakistan-administered Kashmir's cabinet on 25 March, was obtained by the BBC
in Islamabad.

It finds that three banned groups - Harkatul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad
and Lashkar-e-Taiba - are active in Muzaffarabad.

Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad are said to be planning to open
madrassas, or Islamic schools, in the city where Lashkar-e-Taiba is already
operating a madrassa.

"No officials are allowed to enter these premises to gather any sort of
information," the report says.

"We fear these madrassas maybe a cover for furthering militant activities."

The report also elaborates how the militant groups are growing in size and
number across Kashmir.

It especially mentions the Neelum district, where they are said to be at
their most powerful.

The report says the militants are involved in the logging of trees, one of
the most lucrative trades in the region.

They have also set up offices in the Kandal Shahi market in Neelum, where
they have become a major law and order headache, the report says.

The report mentions an incident which led to the killing of some locals and
a resulting stand-off with the militants.

"The situation was only resolved by the intervention of the local
administrator and senior army officials," the report says.

It then goes on to say that the authorities should take up the matter with
the intelligence agency responsible for the militants.

The report says officials from that agency should relocate the militants to
some area near the border, otherwise clashes with locals could take place.

*Deadly groups*

The report comes as Pakistan's security forces are involved in a fully
fledged operation against the Taliban.

The militants are said to be backed up by the jihadi organisations,
especially the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Harkatul Mujahideen.

Jaish-e-Mohammad has been involved in several assassination attempts on top
Pakistani officials, including former President Pervez Musharraf.

Its members were also responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Wall
Street journalist Daniel Pearl, and are said to have carried out the attack
on the Indian parliament.

Harkatul Mujahideen is the Jaish's parent organisation and one of the
largest militant groups in the world.

Lashkar-e-Taiba remains the prime suspect in the Mumbai attacks and is
India's enemy number one.

The charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been accused of being a front for
Lashkar-e-Taiba - but it denies any links with militants.

Local people have confirmed to the BBC that there has been a great increase
in militant activity in the regions mentioned.

"These people are being protected here," said Raja Faisal Majeed, a lawyer
living in a village near where some of the militant groups have set up base.


"Sometimes they operate under the guise of a charity, sometimes as a school.
We have protested against them to no avail."

The deputy chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Abdurehman Makki, told the BBC that the
group had not purchased any properties in the area or been involved in any
alteracations with locals in the area.

Despite the fact that the groups mentioned in the report are banned under
Pakistan's terrorism act, it does not advocate any action against them other
than to keep an eye on their activities.