Pakistani extremist groups join Taliban, al-Qaeda: minister
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, May 31, IRNA – Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said several banned extremist groups have now become part and parcel of Taliban and al-Qaeda to destabilize the country.
Malik said that members of the outlawed extremist groups -- 'Lashkar Jhangvi, Jaish Muhammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba' – received training in Waziristan tribal region and have now formally joined Taliban and al-Qaeda.
“They had been in hiding in southern parts of Punjab and now have surfaced and expanded their terror network upto Balochistan province,” the Interior Minister told reporters after visiting worship places of minority sect ‘Ahmadis’, which were attacked by Taliban militants on Friday.
Ahmadis, declared non-Muslim in Pakistan in 1974, say that 93 of its members were killed and over 100 others injured in attacks on two worship places in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
Punjabi Taliban had claimed responsibility for the massacre and a statement from the media center of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP in email to media organizations on Saturday praised the Lahore attackers.
The Interior Minister said that 40 per cent militants are from southern parts of Punjab who are involved in attacks on Shiite Muslims and minority Christians and Ahmadis.
Malik said he has called a high level meeting in Islamabad next week to chalk out strategy to eliminate the growing threat to minorities from the banned groups and Taliban. Provincial police chiefs and home secretaries will attend the meeting, he said.
He said the government has also planned to introduce in the parliament a ‘Minority Protection Bill' to protect religious minorities in Pakistan.
The Interior Minister said the government has also decided to register around 20,000 religious seminaries and have registered 17,000 so far. “They will be regulated in consultation with their organizers,” he said.
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