Provinces asked to monitor men from Camp X-Ray

By Shahzad Malik

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has asked the provinces and the Islamabad administration to report fortnightly on the activities of Pakistanis repatriated from the Camp X-Ray in the Guantanamo Bay.

The Interior Ministry has directed the provincial police to report about the behaviour and activities of the returnees who have been placed on the schedule IV of the Anti-Terrorism Act, sources told Daily Times.

The ministry has also suggested various district police committees, which would proceed to the places where the returnees lived. They have also been asked to engage local representatives to collect information about their activities. The police had also been asked to arrest them if they violated the Anti-Terrorism Act, the sources said. US forces had arrested 58 Pakistanis from Afghanistan for alleged links with Al Qaeda and later they were shifted to Guantanamo Bay. Twenty out of 58 Pakistanis were repatriated to Pakistan.

Rawalpindi District Police Officer Murawat Ali Shah told Daily Times that there were only five or six returnees who had arrived in Rawalpindi or its adjacent areas and their activities were being monitored. He said that the majority of the returnees belonged to the interior of Punjab and Azad Kashmir. A Capital Police spokesman said no returnee had arrived in Islamabad.

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