Gilani directs Interior Ministry to counter banned groups

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has directed the Interior Ministry to counter the political activities of banned and extremist groups in the Defa-e-Pakistan Council, in which the Jamaat-ud-Dawah is the driving force.During a meeting of his cabinet yesterday, Gilani asked the Interior Ministry to take up with provincial governments the inclusion of banned groups in the Defa-e-Pakistan Council after several ministers expressed concern on the matter.Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has played a key role in putting together the Defa-e-Pakistan (Defence of Pakistan) Council.[caption id="attachment_201416" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Gilani has directed the Interior Ministry to counter the political activities of banned and extremist groups."][/caption]In recent weeks, the conglomerate of about 40 extremist and hardline religious groups has organised a string of massive rallies at which speakers targeted the US and India.Several ministers expressed "grave concerns" during yesterday's cabinet meeting on the inclusion of banned groups in the Defa-e-Pakistan Council and asked the government to take action against them, The News daily quoted its sources as saying.A couple of federal ministers from southern Punjab pointed to the presence of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi chief Malik Ishaq at the Defa-e-Pakistan Council's rally in Multan on January 30 and said it appeared that the militant commander had the "patronage" of the PML-N government in Punjab, the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying. The cabinet decided to take up Ishaq's free movements with the Punjab government.PTI