The Pakistan government on Thursday announced that it had taken control of 182 madrassas and detained more than 100 people as part of its crackdown on banned terror groups.
The interior ministry, according to reports said the action was part of a long-planned drive and not a response to pressure from India to rein in terror groups operating on Pakistani soil.
Provincial governments have “taken in their control management and administration of 182 seminaries (madaris)”, Pakistan’s interior ministry said in a statement, referring to religious schools, adding that “law enforcement agencies have taken 121 people under preventive detention as of today”.
The crackdown comes amid intense global pressure in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed over 44 CRPF personnel.
At least two seminaries and assets belonging to Hafiz Saeed’s proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity arm Falah-e-Insaniyat (FIF) have been taken over by the Pakistan government.
The Pakistan government on Tuesday arrested the brother and son of JeM chief Masood Azhar along with 42 others affiliated with the banned terror groups.
Reports say that in Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority list, which was updated on Tuesday, the JuD and FIF were among 70 organisations proscribed by the Ministry of Interior under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
According to Dawn, major action was taken in Punjab’s Chakwal and Attock districts after the additional Chief Secretary of the region told commissioners and divisional police heads to seize the assets.
(With agency inputs)