Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, on Wednesday confirmed 200 Islamic activists have been rounded up in a renewed crackdown on religious extremists, but denied any links with the London bombings.
”The action against extremists has nothing to do with the London bombings and we are dealing with it as our internal matter,” Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad.
He had earlier conferred with senior police and intelligence officials from throughout Pakistan for several hours.
Sherpao said the operation will continue regardless of criticism by opposition parties, particularly by the Muttahida Majlise Amal (MMA) alliance, which consists of six religious political parties.
President General Pervez Musharraf had last week instructed security agencies to proceed against religious groups involved in sectarian and militant activities.
The directives followed reports from London that three of the four London bombers were Britons of Pakistani origin and at least one of them had visited a seminary by the militant group Lashkare Taiba (LeT) that had been fighting Indian troops in the Himalayan state of Kashmir.
LeT was among the six outfits that Musharraf outlawed in January 2002 for their radical and militant outlook and activities in Kashmir and Afghanistan, where the Taliban had sheltered some of the fugitives wanted by Pakistani authorities on various charges.
Pakistani security agencies on Tuesday raided various mosques and Islamic schools across the country in the latest swoop against religious extremists, which continued on Wednesday.
At least three editors have been arrested and police are still looking for people linked to about 15 religious political publications, believed to be fanning sectarian discontent and hatred in the country.
Sherpao also confirmed that several of the arrested have been charged under the Publications Ordinance, which prohibits promotion of religiously motivated sectarian materials.
”We took action against those elements involved in publishing hate material, making provocative speeches and sheltering militants,” Sherpao said.
According to interior ministry sources, prominent religious members of outlawed militant and sectarian groups are also being monitored.
In Islamabad, about 40 people were arrested in eight seminaries on Tuesday night, triggering demonstrations by religious students across the city.
At least 30 people were arrested in south-western Quetta in connection with a twin sectarian-related killing last week. In some areas, the authorities also confiscated a large number of DVDs, CDs, audio and video cassettes of speeches by different sectarian leaders.
Leaders of religious parties and schools have condemned the latest drive, saying it is aimed at ”pleasing the West only”.
”We have asked the government to provide proof, if they have complaints against anyone, and they would be expelled,” said Hanif Jalandhari, chief of Wifaq-ul-Madaris — Pakistan’s biggest organiser of Islamic seminaries, based in the city of Multan.
Mian Muhammad Aslam, an MMA legislator, also criticised raids on religious schools and mosques.
”We have been asking them to produce any evidence about the involvement of any seminary in terrorism, but they have failed to prove that,” he said.
Aslam also dubbed Musharraf, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George Bush ”terrorists”.
”How else would you describe what they have done in Iraq and Afghanistan?” he asked. — Sapa-DPA