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Pak military initiates fresh crackdown on militants, Musharraf to address nation

A Pakistani paper on Saturday reported that the government has approved 'sweeping' measures against five banned militant outfits, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, following intervention of the US and other nations to defuse the tensions between India and Pakistan.

The report said the government had asked the ministry of finance, State Bank of Pakistan, law and justice division and the provincial home departments to take appropriate measures against the banned militant outfits.

"The home departments of the four provinces have been asked to get tough with arrested activists and immediately shift all dangerous jailed activists to some 'safer' places from where they could not manage to flee," The News reported.

It said the measures were being taken to remove the impression being created by the Indian government in the US and Western countries that Pakistan is not doing enough to rein in terrorists.

Another report in the same newspaper said both India and Pakistan have agreed to bring down tensions following certain confidence building measures (CBMs) suggested by US President George W Bush along with the active support of other influential world powers and the United Nations.

It was after this initiative that Pakistani military commanders on Thursday took the important decision to launch a fresh crackdown on extremists 'on a scale never seen before' to further ensure that no individual or extremist group with militant intent could sneak into India from Pakistan, the report said.

Quoting a top Pakistani official, it said Pakistan decided to take 'a leap forward towards a durable peace with India by agreeing to adopt a hard-line stance against groups or individuals found to be involved in acts of terrorism in India two days ago after Musharraf received credible international assurance that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would reciprocate the Pakistani initiative by initiating an equally historic decision to end the decades old political and military stalemate in Kashmir'.

"The decision by the military high command to take fresh steps to curb the movement of Pakistani infiltrators into India was communicated to US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Germany from where he is in regular contact with the Pakistani and Indian leadership," it said.

Musharraf held 'historic deliberations for several hours on Thursday with top Pakistani military commanders, which were followed by an extensive briefing on the present standoff with India from the director general of the ISI'.

It said they were unanimous in launching this fresh policy initiative with India coupled with full military readiness to meet any eventuality.

Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has indicated that he would address the nation on Sunday to apprise people about the tensions along the Indo-Pak border and the steps being taken to protect the territorial integrity of the nation.

PTI

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