1,700 persons on Fourth Schedule in Punjab

LAHORE: A total of 7,258 proscribed persons in Pakistan, including 1,700 from Punjab have been placed on the Fourth Schedule for various anti-state activities, a top official from Interior Ministry revealed on the condition of anonymity.

The Fourth Schedule is a list of proscribed individuals who are suspected of terrorism and/or sectarianism under Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997. After credible intelligence information, their names are included in the fourth schedule as prescribed by the Home Department and can be subjected to restrictions on travel, speech and business.

Their names are also referred to local police and law enforcement agencies as Fourth Schedulers. If a Fourth Scheduler wants to move somewhere he has to inform the nearby Police Station, where a Station House Officer (SHO) deals with him.

Assets of fourth schedulers are frozen under the law. National Identity Cards (NICs) and bank accounts are blocked by the government and their names placed on Exit Control List (ECL) by the interior ministry.

A person is placed on the list, or expunged from it, by the home department and the deputy commissioner concerned on the basis of intelligence reports. Usually, the name is placed for three years, but the duration can also be extended. By the same pattern, any name can be removed, based on good conduct of the person or disassociation from proscribed outfit.