Lahore: Bowing down to intense international pressure to rein in militant groups operating from its soil, the Pakistan government on Friday took over the administrative control of the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the terror outfit which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.
The move came a day after the powerful UN Security Council comprising 15 nations, including Pakistan’s key ally China, named Jaish in a statement condemning in the “strongest terms” the “heinous and cowardly” terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based JeM in Pulwama and stressed on the need to hold organisers and financiers of such “reprehensible acts” accountable and bring them to justice. The Punjab government has taken over the control of the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur, Pakistan’s information minister Fawad Chaudhry said. “The government of Punjab has taken over the control of a campus comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhan-allah in Bahawalpur, allegedly the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad, and appointed an administrator to manage its affairs,” the minister said.
The campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and currently 600 students were studying in it, a statement issued by the interior ministry said.
Pakistan interior ministry said that the Punjab police is providing security and protection to the campus. The crackdown on Jaish “has been taken in line with the decision of the National Security Committee meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan”, it said.
