PAKISTAN: ARMED POLICE HAVE RAIDED HOMES AND SEALED OFFICES OF BANNED ISLAMIC MILITANT GROUPS
Record ID:
230500
PAKISTAN: ARMED POLICE HAVE RAIDED HOMES AND SEALED OFFICES OF BANNED ISLAMIC MILITANT GROUPS
- Title: PAKISTAN: ARMED POLICE HAVE RAIDED HOMES AND SEALED OFFICES OF BANNED ISLAMIC MILITANT GROUPS
- Date: 13th January 2002
- Summary: (W4) KARACHI, PAKISTAN (JANUARY 13, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV/SV SHOT OF POLICE OUTSIDE MOSQUE (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. LAS EXTERIOR OF LASHKAR-E-TAIBA OFFICE 0.18 3. CU LASHKAR-E-TAIBA FLAG 0.25 4. SLV OF INTERIOR OF LASHKAR-E-TAIBA OFFICE 0.28 5. SV SEALED ENTRANCE 0.35 6. CU LOCKED DOOR, PADLOCK 0.39 7. SV LASHKAR-E-TAIBA BANNER 0.44 (W4) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (JANUARY 13, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. SLV OF IMRAN KHAN, HEAD OF TEHREEK INSAFFA PARTY AND FORMER PAKISTAN CRICKET CAPTAIN, SEATED, TALKING TO REPORTER 0.48 9. MCU (English) IMRAN KHAN SAYING: "Well, I thought it was a very fine balancing act because he had to appease the international opinion that he was doing enough against terrorism. At the same time, he had to make sure that the people of Pakistan did not get demoralised because his government seems to be bending over backwards even if the measures he has taken against terrorism have been against the wishes of the people of Pakistan he has still gone through them." 10. LAS OF KHAN SPEAKING 1.29 11. MCU (English) KHAN SAYING: "For (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf to stop that freedom fight as perceived in this country is going to be extremely damaging for this country. What India is trying to do is, it is using September 11 and then these terrorist attacks on December 13 in Delhi it is using that to finish off the freedom struggle in Kashmir. And the more Musharraf gives in the more they are pushing him to give more concessions and I'm afraid already there is a bit of a backlash in this country, especially from the religious parties. I don't think he can really give any more." 2.16 12. CU OF TEA CUPS ON TABLE/ KHAN SEATED AND SPEAKING IN BACKGROUND 2.23 13. MCU (English) KHAN (reacting to the ban of several political parties) SAYING: "I think in the long run this will be very good for Pakistan, mainly because the rate of state was not working in certain areas against certain organisations. And that really is a disaster for any country when the laws of the land do not apply to certain people. You had organisations which openly carried arms, which were involved in sectarian violence and I think probably the worst thing that had happened to Pakistan in the past fifteen years has been the growth of sectarian parties, sectarian militancy. People have been killed in the mosques. So from that point of view I think most of the people in Pakistan have greeted this (ban) with relief." 3.15 14. SLV OF INTERVIEW WITH ALLAMA HAMID MUSHFI, LEADER OF TEHREEK-E-NIFAZ-E-FIQAE-JAFRIA 3.19 15. MCU (Urdu) MUSHFI SAYING: "All the people should condemn the terrorists and the acts that they do. They give Pakistan and Islam a bad name." 3.37 16. LAS/SLV OF MUSHFI/ MUSHFI WITH SUPPORTERS (2 SHOTS) 3.49 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th January 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KARACHI AND ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Reuters ID: LVA5OLQKWFXK2DZZBRTKT9QEQYPV
- Story Text: Armed police have raided homes and sealed offices of
banned Islamic militant groups as Pakistan watched to see if
the crackdown ordered by its president would appease India and
calm a tense standoff on their border.
In the volatile port city of Karachi, armoured vehicles
mounted with machineguns were posted outside commercial and
government buildings and at some of the offices of the banned
groups to prevent a violent backlash on Sunday (January 13).
Armed police and paramilitary rangers patrolled the main
streets of Pakistan's commercial hub but the city was quiet
and there was no sign of a feared backlash to the clampdown.
Police armed with assault rifles have burst into homes and
offices of sectarian and pro-Kashmiri militants in some areas
of Pakistan, picking up some 130 people and sealing offices
after President Pervez Musharraf announced a ban on five
groups on Saturday (January 12).
In his historic address to the nation, Musharraf said
sectarian violence must end and Pakistan could not be used as
a springboard for militant attacks in other countries.
Pakistani newspapers welcomed the clampdown on Islamic
militancy but said they were not sure if the president's words
were enough to avert war with India.
Imran Khan, leader of Pakistan's Tehreek Insaffa justice
movement party and former cricket captain of his country said
the ban "in the long run will be very good for Pakistan."
"(It is) really a disaster for any country if the laws of
the land do not apply for certain people," Khan said.
He described Musharraf's speech as a "very fine balancing
act because his government seems to be bending over backwards
even if the measures he has taken against terrorism have been
against the wishes of the people of Pakistan."
A leader of a moderate Islamic group threw his support
behind Musharraf.
"All the people should condemn the terrorists and the acts
that they do. They give Pakistan and Islam a bad name," said
Allama Hamid Mushfi, leader of Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqae-Jafria.
Tension between nuclear rivals Pakistan and India stands
at a 15-year high, with about a million troops facing each
other across the border following a bloody December 13 attack
on the Indian parliament that New Delhi blamed on
Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists.
There have been daily clashes between the two sides along
their border and dozens of people -- civilians and soldiers --
have been killed and wounded. Tens of thousands of villages
have fled from their homes.
In his address, Musharraf said Pakistan would never
abandon its support for what Pakistan calls the legitimate
struggle for self-determination by the mostly Muslim people of
Kashmir.
But at the same time he banned the two Kashmiri rebel
groups blamed by India for the parliament attack --
Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Scores of leaders and activists from the two groups have
been detained in Pakistan over the past month.
The two groups have been blamed for waves of sectarian
killings, bombings and shootings in Pakistan in recent years.
Musharraf said that in the past year alone 400 people had been
killed in sectarian violence and it had to stop.
He banned those groups, and a fifth that had sent fighters
from the lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to join
the Taliban against the United States.
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