KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan on Tuesday launched a fresh crackdown on banned militant outfits across the country and arrested over 40 members of the proscribed groups, the country’s minister of state for interior said.

The fresh crackdown has been launched under the National Action Plan -- a counterterrorism strategy aimed at rooting out militancy from the country -- Shehryar Afridi, who was speaking at a news conference in capital Islamabad, was quoted as saying by local broadcaster Dawn News.

The detainees included Mufti Abdul Rauf and Hammad Azhar, believed to be a brother and a son of Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a militant group New Delhi accused of being involved in deadly Pulwama attack that killed over 40 troops in the mid of February, the broadcaster reported.

Rauf and Azhar, who were named in the Indian dossier sent to Pakistan following the Pulwama attack, have also been taken into custody, Afridi said.

“But it doesn’t mean action is being taken only against those mentioned in the dossier,” he added.

“Action against banned outfits will continue irrespectively. We will not allow any individual or group use our soil for terrorism in any other country,” the minister said, adding that the detained members would be “investigated fairly”.

On Monday, Islamabad froze assets of dozens of proscribed outfits and individuals across the country under a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) order.

Last month, the government took control of a religious seminary (madrassa) in northeastern Bahawalpur city, which was claimed to be serving as the JeM’s headquarters.

The group already stands proscribed in Pakistan since 2002.

Written by Aamir Latif