KARACHI, 4 December 2003 — Pakistan’s central bank has ordered local banks to freeze the accounts of three militant groups banned by the government last month under an anti-terrorism law.
Banks have been asked to freeze the accounts of the Shiite group Tehreek-i-Islami Pakistan, the Sunni group Millat-e-Islami and Khuddam-ul-Islam, Syed Wasimuddin, a spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan, told Dow Jones Newswires yesterday.The first two have been accused of sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and Khuddam-ul-Islam of sending separatists rebels into India’s portion of Kashmir.
The government of President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US war against terrorism, banned the groups Nov. 15, saying they had tried to evade an earlier ban by changing their names.
During November, Musharraf outlawed a total of six radical groups, but authorities made few arrests. The freezing of funds will be conducted under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism law introduced in 1997, said Wasimuddin. The law is subject to constant revision.
In April, the central bank said 24 Pakistani bank accounts had been frozen in a bid to stop the financing of terrorist organizations. Some 591 million Pakistani rupees ($10.3 million) were seized. It hasn’t issued fresh data since then.
The central bank has also been trying to prevent illegal currency trading and money laundering due to international pressure to cut off funding for terrorists.
— Additional input from Agencies
