Pakistan vows again to act against militants on its soil as global pressure grows

Previous vows by the Pakistan government to crack down on anti-India militant groups have largely come to nothing, with militant leaders living freely in Pakistan.

Pakistan's powerful military dictates the South Asian nation's security plans and foreign policy, including relations with India.

Chaudhry said the decision to act was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee before the suicide bombing, claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), in Kashmir.

"A full-fledged strategy is now in place," Chaudhry told Reuters. "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 demilitarise if there are groups (on our soil)."

Pakistan's English-language Dawn newspaper said a source briefed journalists that a crackdown against militant groups was imminent.

"The action would soon be visible as things progress," Dawn cited the source as saying. It did not identify the source or say whether it was from the military or government.

In September 2017, Reuters reported that Pakistan's military had decided to deradicalise armed militant groups and try to get them involved in politics.

That strategy was criticised by civil society groups and the previous civilian government after the emergence of a new party linked to Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Saeed denied a role in the attack but the new party was later banned.

DRYING UP MILITANTS' FUNDS

Chaudhry said Pakistan would use an "economic, political and administrative strategy" that would adhere to Pakistan's National Action Plan (NAP) formulated in 2014, which vowed to stamp out militant groups.

Analysts say security services carrying out NAP did not target anti-India outfits.

Chaudhry added that Pakistan would also fulfil demands set out by a global watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which put Pakistan on a terrorism watch list in 2018 on the urging of the United States and European nations.

"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," Chaudhry said.

Chaudhry said the government was looking to close "loopholes" that allowed banned groups to operate.

"With banned groups it will be made sure that they will be banned in practical terms also," he said. "The problem is that they change names and start operating from other names. This needs to be taken care of."

India accused Pakistan of playing a role in the February 14 JeM attack in the Kashmiri city of Pulwama.

"We have looked at the incident and it is our considered opinion that Pulwama has nothing to do with us," Chaudhry said.

The United States, Britain and France proposed last week that the U.N. Security Council blacklist the head of JeM, Masood Azhar. A vote is due to be held in mid-March with a focus on Pakistan's staunch ally China, which has blocked previous attempts by world powers to sanction the JeM chief.

Pakistan's foreign minister last week told CNN that Azhar was in Pakistan and "really unwell".

India on February 26 bombed what New Delhi called a JeM militant training camp in a forest area in northern Pakistan, killing "many terrorists". Islamabad denied such a camp existed and invited journalists to visit the site.

Villagers in the area said there was no active militant camp but pointed to a nearby madrasa and said it was run by JeM. The military prevented Reuters reports from visiting the madrasa.