182 Madrassas sealed for fanning extremism

ISLAMABAD: The law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) have sealed 182 madrassas (seminaries) for fanning extremism and also frozen one billion rupees funds of proscribed militant groups.

As part of strategy to choke terror financing under the National Action Plan (NAP), 126 accounts linked to proscribed organisations have been frozen. The LEAs recovered Rs251.2 million in cash, which were being sent through Hawala and Hundi. The government also recovered Rs19.77 million from suspects involved in the Chowk Yadgar operation in Peshawar, according to the NAP statistics. Officials said militant outfits and armed gangs would not be allowed to operate in the country.

The government has put 8,195 people in the Fourth Schedule in addition to including names of 188 hardcore militants on the Exit Control List (ECL). Movement of 2,052 hardcore militants had also been restricted.

Similarly, the government has registered 1,026 cases, while 230 terror suspects have been arrested. There are 64 banned organisations under the law of the land, while 74 had been declared unlawful by the United Nations. The activities of these organisations are constantly being monitored. The statistics revealed strict action was being taken against literature, newspapers and magazines promoting hatred, decapitation, extremism, sectarianism and intolerance as over 1,500 books and other hate material had been confiscated and 73 such shops sealed.

Around 2,337 cases were registered for hate speeches and material and 2,195 persons were arrested, while the government had also cracked down on the misuse of loudspeakers and as many as 9,164 cases were registered, 9,340 persons were arrested and 2,452 pieces of equipment confiscated for misuse of loudspeakers. With regard to measures against promotion of terrorism through internet and social media, the data showed at least 933 URLs and 10 websites of militant organisations were blocked by the Ministry of Information and Technology (MoIT).

HARIPUR: A woman committed suicide over unknown reasons in the limits of Saddar Police Station here on Friday. Police quoted Naik Akhtar, father of the deceased, as saying that her daughter Maria Bibi, 22, was married to Shahbaz, resident of Dobandi village, a few months back. He said that on Thursday night Shahbaz informed him that her daughter had committed suicide.