The government arrested more than 2,065 clerics for misusing loudspeakers during a recent crackdown across the country as part of National Action Plan (NAP).
During a meeting to review progress on NAP, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was told that there were 3,265 cases of misuse of loudspeakers has been registered while equipment has been seized in 1,281 instances. He was further told that 547 cases had been registered for hate speech.
In total, as many as 218,220 suspects had been picked up in 16,344 operations by law enforcers. Of these, 12,462 people had been arrested. Despite the haul, officials found that only 140 of them had links with terrorists.
The meeting was further informed that there were 60 organisations were banned while one organisation was on the watch list. The minister directed the interior secretary to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reconcile the national list with that of UN.
