The report’s recommendation to the Pakistani government? Just keep an eye on them. “Banned Pakistani groups ‘expand’,” by Syed Shoaib Hasan for BBC News, June 29:
Militant groups banned in Pakistan are expanding operations and recruitment in Pakistani-run Kashmir, according to a government report seen by the BBC.
The observations are from a detailed secret report submitted to the region’s government on the groups’ activities in the city of Muzaffarabad and elsewhere.
Pakistan banned the groups in 2002 after an attack on India’s parliament brought the two states close to war.
There was no immediate comment on the revelations from Pakistan’s government.
Pakistan’s allies, including the US, have expressed fears regarding the groups’ proliferation and their close links to al-Qaeda.
‘Cover for militancy’
A copy of the report, which was submitted by regional police to Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s cabinet on 25 March, was obtained by the BBC in Islamabad.
It finds that three banned groups – Harkatul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba – are active in Muzaffarabad.
Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad are said to be planning to open madrassas, or Islamic schools, in the city where Lashkar-e-Taiba is already operating a madrassa.
“No officials are allowed to enter these premises to gather any sort of information,” the report says.
“We fear these madrassas maybe a cover for furthering militant activities.” […]
Local people have confirmed to the BBC that there has been a great increase in militant activity in the regions mentioned.
“These people are being protected here,” said Raja Faisal Majeed, a lawyer living in a village near where some of the militant groups have set up base.
“Sometimes they operate under the guise of a charity, sometimes as a school. We have protested against them to no avail.”
Despite the fact that the groups mentioned are banned under Pakistan’s terrorism act, the report does not advocate any action against them other than to keep an eye on their activities.