Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah revealed on Monday that less than 100 Pakistanis left the country to join militant group Daesh or the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, while security forces had arrested at least 42 suspected Daesh militants in raids across Punjab, including 9 affiliated with Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaatud Dawa, from Daska.
“Hundreds of people from different countries have fled to Iraq and Syria to join Daesh. However, only a very few Pakistanis have left the country in hopes of joining the militant organisation,” Sanaullah said while speaking to media representatives in Faisalabad.
The law minister vowed to strengthen the security institutions to help curb any influence of the Islamic State in the country, saying those rounded up from Daska last month were preparing to leave for Syria.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader further revealed that all nine suspects belonged to Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), a local charity organisation which was put on UN terror blacklist in December 2008 for allegedly carrying out deadly attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai.
Sanaullah said that besides the 9 JuD members, security agencies had arrested 42 other suspected militants with alleged links to Daesh.
“The arrests were the result of raids in four cities of Punjab over the weekend,” he added. The minister said those arrested had been tasked with setting up sleeper cells for Daesh and those arrested include Daesh Islamabad chief Amir Mansoor, his deputy Abdullah Mansoori and the group’s chief for Sindh Umer Kathio.
Daesh literature and weapons were also recovered during raids, he said, adding that the operation against alleged Daesh militants was launched after the raid in Daska last week.
Further, Sanaullah requested the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, who had earlier raised concerns regarding the Islamic State’s recruitment drive in the country, to provide the IS’ recruiting list to the government so that action could be taken against those involved in it.
Lauding the role of the country’s security forces in eliminating terrorism, the Punjab law minister said although security forces have played a vital role in dealing against terrorism, the government is yet to overcome the scourge of terror completely.
Last week, the law minister had said that the nine suspects, who were arrested from Daska by the counter-terrorism department (CTD), had no direct connection with Daesh. “Preliminary investigation has found that the suspects had no direct contact with Daesh. They were preaching and trying to get support locally,” he told reporters.
Earlier, a Daesh recruiter was also arrested in Karachi earlier this week.
In December 2015, four well-educated men held on terrorism charges were arrested in Karachi for their involvement in the Safoora attacks, while their wives and their accomplices were accused of brainwashing educated and rich women through sermons and videos about the militant group and other terrorist outfits.
An investigation report into the Safoora attackers in August alleged that the suspects were affiliated with al Qaeda and Daesh.
