RAWALPINDI: Ahead of Pakistan Day, police have obtained surety bonds from 29 out of the 34 individuals, including 31 members of proscribed organisations, placed on the fourth schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and started their strict monitoring.

One of the fourth schedulers, Tabarak Abbasi, who lives in Saudi Arabia, has also been declared a proclaimed offender in a case registered with Murree police in March 2017.

Another individual, who belonged to the outlawed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), has been absent from his residence. According to his family, he has been living in Dubai since 2015.

Majority of the 34 individuals placed on the fourth schedule in Rawalpindi district belong to the proscribed SSP, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other outfits.

About the two individuals placed on the fourth schedule who left the country, a senior security official said they might have obtained permission from the authorities concerned.

Police obtain fresh surety bonds from 29 out of 34 individuals put on watchlist, including 31 members of proscribed outfits

At present, he added, no one on the watchlist can leave the country as CNICs of such individuals are blocked and they can’t get arms licences either.

In the prevailing security situation and ahead of the Pakistan Day, police and army have started joint search operations on a daily basis in the cantonment and city areas to ensure foolproof security.

Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, any individual whose name is placed on the fourth schedule is bound to inform the police before leaving their permanent residence and upon return.

In addition, they are also bound to submit a surety bond to the police station concerned guaranteeing their peaceful conduct.

A senior police official said it was not necessary to place all members of banned organisations on the fourth schedule as the decision was taken on a case-to-case basis.

However, he said, whenever an individual was placed on the fourth schedule their arms licence was cancelled.

The information about cancellation of any document is communicated to Nadra as well as the police concerned for record purposes and confiscation of the arms, if required.

Under the ATA, the police or any other government agency has powers to check and probe the assets of fourth schedulers or their immediate family members, including parents, wives and children, to ascertain whether their source of income are legitimate and being spent on lawful objectives.

According to police sources, surety bond from a religious/political leader residing in Westridge has not been obtained by the police so far.

Another fourth scheduler, Attaur Rehman Dhanyal, a resident of Pirwadhai, has also not submitted surety bond to the police.

Tahir Iqbal Chishti of Qasimabad has yet to submit a surety bond to the police.

According to sources, surety bonds worth Rs500,000 have been obtained by the Airport police from Imtiaz Ali Khokhar alias Taji Khokhar and his son Furrukh Imtiaz Khokhar after their names were placed on the fourth schedule in Dec 2018.

The sources said the surety bonds from the Khokhars were obtained by police in Jan 2019 and they were bound to inform the police in case of leaving their home.

However, their links could not be established with any banned outfit or proscribed organisation by the police, said the sources.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2019