The Pakistan government has taken control of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed headquarters in Bahawalpur, a statement by the Pakistan Interior Ministry said on Friday evening.

The action is seen as part of a set of measures ordered by the National Security Committee that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday in the wake of suicide bomb attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in India.

An interior ministry statement said the Punjab government had taken over control of the campus comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah in Bahawalpur and appointed an administrator to manage the campus.

The spokesperson further added that the campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and currently 600 students were studying in it. The Punjab police is providing security and protection to the campus, he added.

The National Security Committee has decided to “accelerate action against proscribed organisations” and to notify Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ut-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as banned groups, an interior ministry spokesman said.

India has pledged a response to the February 14 Pulwama attack that killed 40 personnel and dismissed Khan’s earlier offer to aid investigations into the attack and to take action if New Delhi provides “actionable intelligence”.

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The National Security Committee “noted that the state of Pakistan is not involved in any way, means or form in the said incident”, an official statement said.

Pakistan will take action against anyone found using its soil on the basis of “the investigation or any tangible evidence provided”. The statement said India needs introspection “to realize that why people of (Jammu and Kashmir) have lost fear of death”.

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“At the same time, the Prime Minister (Imran Khan) authorised armed forces of Pakistan to respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India,” the statement said.

In the 2016 Pathankot airbase terror attack, investigation had revealed that terrorists called up phones located in Bahawalpur, Lahore and Karachi, speaking to handlers linked to the top leadership of the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

One of the terrorists was in touch with a senior Jaish leader in Karachi, while the Bahawalpur number was used by one of the terrorists named Nasir to communicate with his mother Nusrat at 9.22am on January 1.

First Published: Feb 22, 2019 20:06 IST