ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has outlawed as many as 11 organisations affiliated with the banned outfits of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

These include seven affiliates of the JuD and two each of the FIF and the JeM.

The seven JuD affiliates to have been proscribed are namely Al-Anfal Trust, Lahore; Idara Khidmat-i-Khalq, Lahore; Al-Dawatul Irshad, Lahore; Al-Hamad Trust, Lahore/Faisalabad; Mosques & Welfare Trust, Lahore; Al-Medina Foundation, Lahore, and Mazz-Bin-Jabel Education Trust, Lahore.

Names placed on Nacta website that maintains a list of 71 outfits and affiliates banned since 2001

The two affiliated organisations of FIF outlawed are Al-Fazal Foundation/Trust, Lahore and Al-Easar Foundation, Lahore. The two affiliated organizations of JeM to have been banned are Al-Rehmat Trust Organisation, Bahawalpur, and Al-Furqan Trust, Karachi.

The decision to ban Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee, headed by the prime minister and comprising key cabinet members and military leaders, on Feb 21, but a notification by the interior ministry to that effect was issued on March 5.

In February last year, then president Mamnoon Hussain had promulgated an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, with regard to proscription of individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the UN Security Council in a move to declare JuD and FIF proscribed groups. However, the ordinance lapsed after the expiry of 120 days and was neither re-promulgated nor brought to parliament as a bill.

Jaish-e-Muhammad had been outlawed in Pakistan back in January 2002.

Names of the organisations affiliated with the three banned outfits have been placed on the website of National Counterterrorism Authority (Nacta) on May 10. Their names appear below their parent organisations and the number of outlawed organisations continues to stand at 71.

The process of maintaining a list of proscribed organisations started on Aug 14, 2001 when Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Mohammad Pakistan were banned. Just five months later the JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Tehreek-i-Jafria Pakistan, Tehreek-i-Islami and Tehreek-i-Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi were banned.

Al Qaeda was put on the list of proscribed outfits on March 17, 2003, followed by the placement of ban on six organisations namely Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan, Khuddamul Islam, Islami Tehreek Pakistan, Jamiatul Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan and Hizbut Tehrir in November. A year later Khair-un-Naas International Trust was proscribed.

Two more groups placed on the list were Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which was banned on April 7, 2006, and the Islamic Students Movement of Pakistan which was outlawed on Aug 21, 2006.

In 2008, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Islam, Ansarul Islam and Haji Namdar Group were banned.

Five more Balochistan-based organisations — Balochistan Republican Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Lashkar-i-Balochistan, Balochistan Liberation United Front and Balochistan Musallah Difa Tanzeem — were put on the list in 2010, while three Gilgit-based groups — Markaz Sabeel Organisation, Shia Tulaba Action Committee and Tanzeem Naujawanan-i-Ahle Sunnat — and the Karachi-based Peoples Aman Committee were banned the following year.

Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, a reincarnation of Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Al Harmain Foundation and Rabita Trust, Anjuman-i-Imamia, Muslim Students Organisation, Tanzeem Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Balochistan Bunyad Parast Army, Tehreek Nafaz-i-Aman, Tahaffuz Hadudullah, Balochistan Waja Liberation Army, Islam Mujahideen, Jaish-i-Islam and Balochistan National Liberation Army were proscribed in 2012.

The list was further expanded in 2013 with the addition of 14 groups namely Khana-i-Hikmat Gilgit-Baltistan, Tehreek-i-Taliban Swat, Tehreek-i-Taliban Mohmand, Tariq Jeedar Group, Abdullah Azam Brigade, East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Islamic Jihad Union, 313 Brigade, Tehreek-i-Taliban Bajaur, Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir (Haji Namdar Group), Baloch Student Organisation-Azad, United Baloch Army and Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz in March.

The list of proscribed militant outfits remained unchanged till July 15, 2015 when Daesh — the Arabic acronym for the militant Islamic State group — was banned. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami and Ansarul Hussain were banned next year.

Tehreek-i-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir and Jundullah were added to the list by the previous government in 2017 and 18, respectively.

The first organisation banned by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government was the Yemen-based Al-Rahmah Welfare Trust Organisation. It was added to the list of proscribed outfits on Dec 13, 2018. This year, the government banned Balwaristan National Front (Abdul Hameed Khan Group), the JuD, the FIF and the Pak-Turk International CAG foundation besides the 11 affiliates of the JuD, the FIF and the JeM.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2019