The government of Pakistan has pledged to take crack down on the various militant groups operating across the country following a military escalation with India over violence in the disputed area of Kashmir.
In an interview with Reuters, Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry denied accusations from India that the Pakistani government was involved in last month’s suicide attack in Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary police, saying it had “nothing to do with us.”
He also claimed that officials had drawn up a strategy to crack down on groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) during a meeting of the National Security Committee last month before the suicide bombing took place.
“A full-fledged strategy is now in place,” Chaudhry said “We have different strategies for different groups, but the main aim is that we have to enforce the writ of the state. We have to demilitarize if there are groups (on our soil).”
Chaudhry added that Pakistan would also meet requirements set out by a global watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which last year accused Pakistan of being too lenient towards militant groups.
“We have to implement FATF conditionalities, and likewise, we have taken strict measures on money laundering to dry the source of funding for these groups,” he explained. “With banned groups, it will be made sure that they will be banned in practical terms also. The problem is that they change names and start operating from other names. This needs to be taken care of.”
Pakistan has long been a source of global criticism for its failure to prevent the growth of militant and terrorist organizations. In 2017, the country’s military initiated a strategy of trying to deradicalize groups and encourage them to get involved in politics, a move that was heavily criticized by civil society groups and human rights organizations.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have flared in recent weeks over the long-disputed region of Kashmir after India responded to the recent suicide bombing by carrying precision strikes on various militant groups within Pakistani territory.
The attacks drew a response from Islamabad, who retaliated by shooting down two Indian warplanes, capturing two pilots, and conducting six airstrikes against ground targets on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC). However, Prime Minister Imran Khan later has since released one of the pilots as a “peace gesture,” as two nuclear-armed nations seek to reduce tensions amid fears of escalating conflict.
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