Islamabad, Nov 19: Pakistan is demanding cash from almost 600 Islamic militants in a new attempt to prevent banned extremist groups re-emerging under new names, officials said today. The bonds are an alternative approach to mass arrests, which Pakistan used last year in an unsuccessful crackdown on militant groups.

"They are being asked to give surety bonds of good behaviour. If they violate them we will arrest them and their surety will be forfeited," a senior police intelligence official told a news agency on condition of anonymity. Nearly 600 activists of militant groups outlawed on Saturday have been ordered to pay security bonds of up to 100,000 rupees, he said.

"This strategy is different to previous attempts when large-scale arrests were made because most of those people were subsequently released by courts."

Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said the government had chosen to seek "guarantees" from the militants instead of arresting them as "a new strategy." "We are not going for the arrest of members of these banned groups," he told a news agency.

"We are closing down their offices to deny them a forum. We are seeking guarantees from them that they do not indulge in such activities in the future.

"This is providing them an avenue to correct their behaviour. If they disobey the government ban again they will be punished." Bureau Report