Govt bans Jundullah, notification issued

ISLAMABAD: Apparently in line with the international obligations to take action against some key militant organisations working under different names and subsidiaries, the federal government has formally declared “Jundullah” as defunct thus giving law enforcement agencies powers to take action against the leaders and activists of this organisation.

“We are taking strict actions against the militant organisations working in the country, to fulfil our international obligations,” said an Interior Ministry official while talking to this correspondent of on Tuesday.

The notification has been issued through Gazette of Pakistan dated February 9 banning Jundullah and placing it in the first schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 which has also been amended on last Saturday, February 10, 2018, only a day after banning the said organisation.

Before publishing it in the Gazette of Pakistan, the Interior Ministry on January 31 also issued a notification of its ban quietly. The sources claim that the notification was issued following a meeting headed by Secretary Interior Arshad Mirza which was also attended by the officials from Foreign Office and an intelligence outfit.

Sources claim that Jundullah is mostly based in Balochistan. Iran, for quite some time, has been complaining about the role of the said organisation in different terrorist activities in her territory. The sources claimed that action against such organisations may be enhanced in the days to come.