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June 10, 2001

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Pak cannot easily disarm armed groups

Pakistan faces problems in disarming armed groups in the country.

The military establishment has had to extend the amnesty by another 15 days for people to deposit their weapons.

'June 1 was the cut-off date for depositing arms and the military government had said it would move in to capture illegal arms from various groups and individuals,' reports The Friday Times.

'While it did recover a few hundred weapons in the first three days, the drive has gone into low gear again with the government announcing another 15-day amnesty for people to deposit their illegal weapons,' the Lahore-based newspaper said.

'I can't give you the exact number of weapons in Karachi, but it is substantial, the Times quoted Sindh's Interior Secretary Brigadier Mukhtar, as saying.

The newspaper quoted an expert on proliferation of small arms as saying that 'identifying such groups is not a problem... the issue is how many arms are we looking at and how can they be recovered. This is important because some groups could actually deposit a few hundred and yet remain in possession of thousands more.'

'Moreover, the government has not come up with any visible policy on what it is going to do with the captured weapons' as these weapons could find their way again into the streets and illegal possession.

Quoting an observer, the Times said 'if the government can even achieve 40 per cent success, that would be amazing.'

'This scepticism is justified. If the government indeed has data on the arms, has identified the groups in possession of such weapons, knows the seminaries where arms are stored, then what is stopping it from moving in?' the newspaper asked.

The newspaper names certain organisations as being 'on the government's agenda' without elaborating whether the Pakistani government would also de-weaponise them or not.

They include the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Lashker-e-Taiyba and Hizbul Mujahideen, which have been responsible for carrying out subversive activities in Jammu and Kashmir for over a decade including the recent trend of carrying out suicide attacks at vital installations.

The other groups on the military government's agenda, according to the newspaper, include Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (both sectarian Deobandi groups), Sipah-e-Mohammad, Tehreek-e-Ja'faria Pakistan (both Shia sectarian).

Others are the Sunni Tehreek; Gohar Shahi (Brelvi Sunni militant), students wings and off-shore groups of these militant groups, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (A), Mohajir Qaumi Movement (H), Al-Zulfiar Organisation, PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) Muslim Student Federation, Islami Jamiat-e-Tulba and the All Pakistan Mohajir Student Organisation, the Times said.

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(c) Copyright 2001 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

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