Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari
has amended an anti-terror law allowing authorities to act
against members of outlawed groups that set up new outfits
with different names, a move which may have ramifications for
LeT whose founder Hafiz Saeed floated JuD after it was banned.
An ordinance promulgated on Saturday by Zardari to amend
the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 stated that if "office bearers,
activists or associates of a proscribed organisation form a
new organisation under a different name, upon suspicion about
their involvement in similar activities, the said organisation
shall also be deemed to be a proscribed organisation."
The government may then "issue a formal notification"
about the proscription of the new group formed by members of a
banned organisation, it said.
Soon after the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was banned in
Pakistan in the wake of the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament,
its founder Saeed floated the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD),
describing it as a charitable organisation. The UN Security
Council declared the JuD a front for the LeT after last year`s
Mumbai terror attacks and imposed restrictions on Saeed.
The Pakistan government has said on several occasions
that the JuD has been banned, though no formal written
notification has been issued in this regard.
The JuD still runs an extensive network of offices and
seminaries across Pakistan. Its members provided aid to people
displaced by recent anti-Taliban operations while operating in
the guise of an organisation called the `Falah-e-Insaniyat
Foundation`.
Their activities were curtailed after the Western media
carried reports about the Falah-e-Insaniyat.
Though Saeed was put under house arrest in December last
year after the Mumbai attacks, he was freed on the orders of
the Lahore High Court in June. Pakistani authorities recently
restricted his movements again though no formal order has been
issued to put him under house arrest or to detain him.
The ordinance issued by Zardari also stated that members
of a banned group will not be issued a passport or allowed to
travel abroad if they "are found continuing the activities of
the proscribed organisation" or if they violate the
Anti-Terrorism Act or any other law.
In case of such offences, banks and financial
institutions will not be allowed to provide loans or financial
support to members of banned groups and their arms licenses
will be cancelled, the ordinance said.
The ordinance also extended the period for which an
accused or suspected terrorist can be kept in detention
without being charged from 15 to 90 days.
"Any person who has been concerned in any offence under
this Act or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made
or credible information has been received, or a reasonable
suspicion exists of his having been so concerned, the
government may issue order of his preventive detention for a
period not exceeding 90 days, and which shall not be
challenged in any court...," the ordinance stated.
The amendment also envisages stricter checks on the
running of illegal FM channels by militants.
Under the new amendments, an act of intimidation or
terrorising the public, social sectors and business community
and attacking civilians, government officials, installations,
security forces or law enforcement agencies can now be tried
under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The ordinance also stated that no court, including a High
Court or the Supreme Court, can grant bail to a person accused
of an offence that is punishable with death or imprisonment
for life or jail term exceeding 10 years under the
Anti-Terrorism Act.
Bureau Report
