Lahore, Feb 22: Succumbing to intense international pressure to rein in militant groups operating from its soil, the Pakistan government on Friday took over the administrative control of the headquarters of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), the terror outfit which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.

The move came a day after the powerful UN Security Council comprising 15 nations, including Pakistan's key ally China, named JeM in a statement condemning in the "strongest terms" the "heinous and cowardly" terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based JeM in Pulwama and stressed on the need to hold organisers and financiers of such "reprehensible acts" accountable and bring them to justice.

"The Punjab government has taken over the control of the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur," Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told PTI.

"The government of Punjab has taken over the control of a campus comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah in Bahawalpur...and appointed an administrator to manage its affairs," the minister added.

Bahawalpur is 400 km from Lahore.

A statement issued by the Interior Ministry also said the crackdown on Jaish "has been taken in line with the decision of the National Security Committee meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan".

The Islamic seminaries in the campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and currently 600 students were studying in it, the statement said, adding that Punjab police is providing security and protection to the campus.

Pakistan on Thursday also banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

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New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took oath as a Lok Sabha MP on Thursday following her thumping victory from Kerala's Wayanad in a bypoll.

The 52-year-old, who joins her mother Sonia and brother Rahul as an MP in what is a rare instance of three members of a family together in Parliament, took affirmation in Hindi while holding a copy of the Constitution soon after the House met.

Ravindra Chavan (Cong), who won the Nanded bypoll also took oath in Marathi in the name of God. The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of his father Vasantrao Chavan recently.

Priyanka Gandhi took the plunge into active politics in 2019 and was later appointed Congress general secretary. Five years after that, Priyanka Gandhi begins her journey as an elected representative of the people.

With a winning margin of more than 4.1 lakh votes, she surpassed the tally of her brother Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala.

Priyanka Gandhi's entry into Parliament comes at a difficult time for the party, which has been jolted by electoral defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra. It would be interesting to see if she is able to give a much-needed fillip to the grand old party and help put it back on the electoral track.

Often drawing comparisons with her grandmother Indira Gandhi for their similarity in looks and way of speaking, Priyanka Gandhi has been the go-to campaigner for the party since her entry into active politics and even before that when she campaigned for her mother Sonia and brother Rahul.

Congress leaders from Wayanad handed over the election certificate of the Wayanad parliamentary by-election to Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday and conveyed their best wishes.

Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday won the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll with a thumping margin of over four lakh votes, defeating Sathyan Mokeri of the CPI(M)-led LDF.

 

further details are awaited.