KARACHI/ISLAMABAD, 17 October — A crackdown on religious and militant parties seems imminent after a military high command meeting on Monday, and some 3,000 activists of these organizations have already been listed for some kind of action, reliable sources in Karachi said.
They claimed that the patience of the government was running thin because of militants who were allowed to vent their feelings through peaceful processions on Afghanistan crisis, had misused the concession given to them, and had taken the law in their hands, which cannot be tolerated. At least over half a dozen persons have died so far in these agitations in different parts of the country.
President Pervez Musharraf is understood to have taken his corps commanders into confidence, and may soon order arresting some of the religious leaders. A couple of them like Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Maulana Samiul Haq and Azam Tariq are already in detention.
But there are host of others who have been causing problem for the people, disrupting businesses and communication lines of the country, which had aggravated the economic crisis, these sources said.
A report said the law enforcement agencies, a term normally used for army, or paramilitary Rangers force, have identified some 3,000 activists of various religious and militant political parties and want them to be dealt with severely.
A number of these elements have been on the wanted list for their involvement in sectarian and other incidents. The Interior Ministry said that activists of banned parties have also infiltrated into the ranks of other parties. That has worsened the situation further. The government, feeling much more confident than before, wants to crackdown on them to ensure peace in the country.
Late on Monday evening, a number of radical Islamist parties arranged a meeting at Benaras Chowk, a slum locality, inhabited mainly by Pathan settlers from NWFP, threatened to storm Islamabad and Pasni, the small Balochistan town whose airport has been given for use by American forces. The rally was addressed mainly by second line of JUI. They used strong language against Musharraf and his Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider.
The government naturally has been feeling upset by the activities of these organizations, and wants to be severe with them now, these sources explained.
In Islamabad, the military commanders Monday expressed their total confidence in the operational readiness and capability of the army and its ability to combat all possible threats from any direction.
The resolve of the military commanders reached in a Corps Commanders Conference held at the General Headquarters to review both the internal and external security situation.
Musharraf chaired the conference, which held on the day US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Islamabad for holding talks with the president and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. "The possible implications on national security and operational preparedness of Pakistan Army were also reviewed," said an ISPR announcement on the conference, which was attended by all the corps commanders and principal staff officers.
