Pakistan crackdown gathers pace

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan says it has detained hundreds of activists from banned Islamic groups and closed down scores of their offices in an effort to ease tensions with neighboring nuclear rival India.

The arrests -- which took place at the weekend and are believed to be continuing -- come after Pakistani President,General Pervez Musharraf delivered a much-anticipated national address Saturday in which he vowed to crack down on religious extremism.

According to an interior ministry official some 1,100 activists from five outlawed groups had been detained since Saturday with around 390 offices sealed.

"We have detained almost all the activists from banned groups, but their leadership has gone underground ... we will manage them also," the unnamed official told Reuters news agency.

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Most of those detained are believed to be held under a British colonial-era "maintenance of public order" law enabling authorities to hold suspects for up to three months.

In his televised national address Musharraf said sectarian violence must be brought to an end and said he would not tolerate his country being used as a springboard for militant attacks on other countries.

The five groups targeted so far in the crackdown are the Sunni group Sipha-e-Sahaba, the Shi'ite Tehrik-e-Jafria Party, the pro-Taliban Tehrik-e-Nifaz-Shariat Mohammadi and pro-Kashmiri groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba -- all outlawed by Musharraf.

Militant clash

The latter two groups have been named by India as being behind the suicide raid on parliament in New Delhi last month which killed 14 people, including the five attackers.

Since then relations between India and Pakistan have soured to their worst level in more than 15 years with both sides massing large numbers of troops and heavy weapons along their common border.

India has given a cautious welcome to Musharraf's weekend speech, but tensions between the two countries remain high with Indian officials reporting fresh clashes between their forces and Kashmiri militants Sunday night.

Two suspected militants were shot to death after they reportedly tried to attack a paramilitary camp in Srinagar, India says, while two Indian soldiers were injured.

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said Indian forces opened fire Monday across the Line of Control in Kashmir although there were no reports of casualties.

Waiting for action

On Sunday, in response to Musharraf's speech, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said any military de-escalation or resumption of dialogue between the two countries would depend on Pakistan's actions rather than its words.

"We have to go not by stated intent, but action on the ground," he said.

India has called for Pakistan to hand over for trial the leaders of the two militant groups blamed for the parliament attack.

However, Musharraf said that any Pakistanis accused of participating in the raid would be tried in Pakistan.