Azhar’s son among 44 ‘arrested’ in Pak

Islamabad, March 5

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s son and brother were among 44 members of the banned militant outfits arrested in Pakistan today, amid mounting pressure from the global community on Islamabad to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil.

Opinion: Playing ping-pong with the forces

“We have taken 44 persons in custody as part of crackdown on militant groups,” Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said.

Secretary Azam Suleman Khan said Hammad Azhar and Mufti Abdur Rauf were among those arrested. Hammad is the son of Masood Azhar, while Rauf is his brother. Khan said a dossier shared by India last week also contained the names of Rauf and Hammad. “It does not mean action is being taken against only those individuals who are mentioned in the dossier,” he added.

Afridi said the action was not taken due to any pressure. “This is our own initiative... We won’t allow the use of our soil against any country,” he said.

Interior secretary Khan said action would be taken against all proscribed organisations under the National Action Plan formulated after an attack on an army school in Peshawar in 2014 that killed 150 persons.

“This is across the board — we don’t want to give the impression that we are against one organisation.”

The crackdown will continue for two weeks and action against the arrested members would be taken on the basis of evidence, he said.

Khan said Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation would be banned within 24 hours. On February 21, Pakistan had announced it had banned the JuD and FIF. However, the website of the National Counter Terrorism Authority said JuD and FIF were still on watch list. — PTI

In preventive detention only: Indian officials

New Delhi: Indian security agencies were unmoved by the reports of arrests, with officials saying the terrorists had only been taken in “preventive detention for investigation” and not arrested under the anti-terrorism laws. Similar action against leaders of the proscribed outfits in the past turned out to be farce as they were let off soon after. The detention could also be an attempt by the Pakistan army to provide security to these terrorists, a security official said. PTI

GO count balakot bodies: Rajnath to Cong

Some parties are asking how many terrorists were killed (in Balakot). Today or tomorrow, it will be known. The NTRO said 300 phones were active. Were these used by trees? If Congress is that eager to know the toll, I advise leaders to visit Pakistan to count for themselves — Rajnath Singh, Home Minister