Islamabad: A crackdown on elements fanning militancy is underway in Pakistan as part of the newly-launched comprehensive National Action Plan to curb terrorism and extremism.

Cases have been registered against 341 persons involved in hate speech, out of which 251 have been formally arrested, while 41 shops disseminating hate material have been closed, an official report said.

According to the report submitted to a high-level meeting chaired on Wednesday by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, action has been taken against nearly 1,100 persons on the misuse of loudspeakers.

The reports said ‘madaris’ (religious seminaries) were being closely monitored so that “spread of terrorist ideology can be checked”.

As many as 95 proscribed organisations have been identified in the country’s most populous Punjab province, which “are still engaged in spreading terrorism and extremism”, it said.

The prime minister has asked the revenue department to ensure that funding to proscribed organisations is stopped.

He also directed the ministry of information technology to take steps for blocking websites and social media platforms being used by terrorist organisations.

A meeting of chief ministers of all provinces has been called next week by the prime minister to brief him on the progress made by them on the implementation of the National Action Plan.

The federal government has assured all possible resources to the provincial governments.

A state-of-the-art rapid response force is being formed to meet the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism. This properly equipped force would be trained on modern lines and given better pay package.

Federal Minister for Interior, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that 180 miscreants have been picked up so far from various parts of Islamabad, while 48 of them have been formally arrested. Similarly in Punjab, 14,000 suspects have been picked up out of whom 780 have been formally arrested and are under investigation, the minister said.

A process is underway to finalise terrorism cases to be sent to military courts being set up under the action plan for speedy trial, officials said.

Around 40 million mobile phone SIMs have been blocked in the country, according to the minister of state for telecommunication Anusha Rehman.

The junior minister told the meeting of a Senate standing committee that all efforts were being made to block unverified mobile SIMs.