ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, on Tuesday banned two rival militant groups often blamed for violence between the majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite sects of Islam.
He announced the ban on the Sunni Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Shi'ite Sipah-e-Mohammad groups in a speech to heads of newly elected district councils on Pakistan's 54th independence day anniversary.
Tit-for-tat sectarian violence in Pakistan has claimed scores of lives this year and hundreds in recent years.
Musharraf also warned the main Shi'ite party Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan (TJP) and Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba group that they might also be banned if found to be involved in sectarian violence.
"I warn the TJP and Sipah-e-Sahaba that I will not hesitate to ban them if they are involved in any terrorist activity," he said to loud applause by hundreds of people attending the meeting.
Musharraf said intolerance, corruption and ethnic and sectarian killings were giving Pakistan a bad name abroad.
"I regret that instead of being a dynamic, progressive and economically vibrant country we are fighting against being declared a failed or terrorist state," he said.
Musharraf has recently stepped up a drive against illegal weapons and said anti-terrorism laws were being made more stringent.
"Pakistan faces no danger from outside, the danger is from within. It is the internal strife that has demoralised the people," he added.
06:55 08-14-01
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