No external pressure on JuD, FIF ban: ISPR DG

RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor Tuesday said the decision to ban Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insanyat Foundation (FIF) was not taken under any external pressure rather it was decided in the country’s interest.“There should be no doubt that we are taking action to ban two organisations under any pressure,” the DG ISPR said recalling that there was no Pulwama incident or FATF when the National Action Plan (NAP) was initiated.Speaking to a private news channel, Gen Ghafoor said the decision to proscribe the two organisations was taken in January with input from the Pakistan Army but unfortunately the announcement could not be made.“Now the issue was again raised by the prime minister in a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) on February 21,” he said.He said following the Pulwama incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan made offer of investigation to India saying that action would be taken against any person if he used Pakistan’s soil on the basis of evidences.He said now the Indian authorities had given a dossiers mentioning some names and places.“As per promise of the prime minister, in the light of investigation, action would be taken against them if they are found involved,“ he said, adding that action would be taken in interest of Pakistan and not in interest of any other country.He said the findings of investigations would also be shared with India.He said the prime minister ordered arrest of two persons belonging to these organisations seeing their names given by India, living up to his promise. “They will be taken to task if they are found involved and if we have any evidence against them or evidence is given against them,” he said, adding that action was also in the interest of Pakistan and not any other country.He recalled that the National Action Plan (NAP) was initiated during the year 2014 on suggestion of the Pakistan Army saying that all the political parties had unanimously agreed on the NAP and since then it was being implemented.The DG ISPR said when the NAP was decided there was no Pulwama incident or FATF rather it was planned in country’s own interest.“It was the state’s own decision that it has to work on militant and proscribed organizations and there was no Pulwama incident or FATF,” he said.He pointed out that the NAP could not be implemented fully, as there were some financial and capacity issues involved in it while the armed forces were also involved in Zarb-e-Azb along the civilian forces.He also recalled that the army chief while addressing Youm-e-Shuhda in 2017 had stated prerogative of violence is with the state saying that there was no Pulwama or FATF.Later, he said there were two main points of Raddul Fasaad which also started after Zarb-e-Azb that the NAP would implemented in letter and spirit, while Intelligence Based Operations (IBOs) would be conducted across the country and there would also be deweaponization.He said there was lot of fire exchange on the Line of Control (LoC) in February in which two soldiers and four citizens from Pakistan were martyred and many others injured.“There is relatively calm on the LoC after 28th of February but tension is still there,” he said, adding that the armed forces were fully alert to respond to any aggression.He said the armed forces were also meant to respond to any aggression against the country’s sovereignty. “But still we feel that there is an exit point out of the present situation for India to avail but it is up to them otherwise the exit point will be far away,” he said, adding there should be no such activity which could endanger peace of the region.To a question about contacts between the DGMOs of two countries or at any other level of two armies, Major General Asif Ghafoor said the last hot line could not be established due to the prevailing situation. “But let us see how things move now,” he said.

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