5,741 proscribed persons placed on Fourth Schedule in country

LAHORE: A total of 5741 proscribed persons in country, including 1616 from Punjab have been placed on the Fourth Schedule list for various anti-state activities, a top official from interior ministry disclosed on the condition of anonymity.

Punjab home department has placed the names of these clerics on the list over suspicious activities on the recommendation of Punjab Police and other Law-Enforcement (LAEs) agencies in the province, sources disclosed revealed. The Fourth Schedule is a list of proscribed individuals who are suspected of terrorism 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, sources said.

Sources also claim that despite restricting movements, the Fourth Schedulers take part in protests/dharnas, gathering etc. No one could stop them. Another source also claim that SHOs cannot stop proscribed persons as they are powerful and have religio-political backing. Additional Inspector General Punjab (IGP) Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Rai Tahir was contacted repeatedly for official version on how proscribed persons take part in protests if their names were put in the list of Fourth Schedule, but he did not respond.

When contacted, Additional IGP Operation Punjab Inam Ghani, spokesperson of Inspector General Punjab asked this correspondent to talk to Add IGP CTD. Since the CTD official was not responding, questions were sent to the IGP’s spokesperson, but he did not respond.

Sources in the CTD said adequate measures are in place to monitor Fourth Schedulers including physical and technical surveillance. Their CDR is checked by CTD, additionally, social media accounts of the Fourth Schedulers are monitored, he added. The source shared that the locations of Forth Schedulers are also monitored. If they violate the law, action is taken against them.

Source shared that 79 proscribed persons have been placed on the list of Fourth Schedule only in metropolitan city of the province. He further explained that 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. According to law, assets of Fourth Schedulers are frozen under the law. Bank accounts are frozen by the government and their names placed on the 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.