Pak crackdown against banned organisations; Masood Azhar’s son, brother among 44 arrested

Islamabad, Mar 5: Pakistan Tuesday arrested at least 44 members of banned outfits, including Mufti Abdul Raoof and Hamad Azhar, the brother and son of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Masood Azhar, respectively, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said at a press conference.

He said a dossier shared by India with Pakistan last week also contained names of Mufti Abdur Rauf and Hammad Azhar.

“It does not mean that action is being taken against only those individuals who are mentioned in the dossier,” Dawn quoted the minister saying.

He, however, said the action was not taken due to any pressure.

The minister said the action would be taken against all the proscribed organisations.

The move came a day after Pakistan on March 4 promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations.

Interpreting the order, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said it means that the government has taken over the control of assets and properties of all banned outfits operating in the country. (Agencies)

Pak minister asked to quit over anti-Hindu remarks

Islamabad, Mar 5: Pakistan’s Punjab province information and culture minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan was on Tuesday asked to resign over his anti-Hindu remarks that invited intense criticism by senior party leaders and the minority community, according to a media report.

Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar summoned Chohan and asked him to tender his resignation, Geo TV reported, quoting sources.

“There were complaints against Chohan earlier as well owing to which he was sent warnings,” a source said.

Earlier in the day, Chohan apologised for his comments following intense criticism from senior members of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s government and social media users.

“I was addressing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian armed forces and their media, not the Hindu community in Pakistan,” he said.

“I apologise if my remarks hurt the Hindu community in Pakistan,” he added. “My remarks were in no way directed at Pakistan’s Hindu community.”

Chohan had come under severe criticism from senior members of his party, ministers and social media users with #SackFayazChohan trending on Twitter for his controversial remarks while addressing a gathering on February 24 in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government “will not tolerate this nonsense”, party leader Naeemul Haque, who is special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan, said on Monday night in response to Chohan’s remarks. “The derogatory and insulting remarks…demand strict action,” he added. (PTI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)