Islamabad: Pakistan Government has decided to seek help of the leaders of banned militant outfits, including Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar, to control violence in the country after some arrested militants warned of major strikes in cities like Islamabad and Lahore.

In lieu of their support, some concessions would be offered to them such as they could be exempted from reporting to police regularly and allowed organisational activities which would be limited to preaching, according to officials.

Pakistan's security officials were busy contacting the leaders of the banned local militant outfits after "the information gathered from arrested militants suggested that others could hit Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar after Quetta, Karachi and Gwadar," the 'Daily Times' quoted officials as saying.

The new strategy to consult the militant leadership was hit off after the Government thought that the militants, who could not be controlled by their leaders, had become a threat to peace in Pakistan and decided to seek the help of the leaders of the groups with offers to relax curbs against them to bring the situation under control, it said.

The intelligence agencies were consulting Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of the defunct Jaish; Maulana Fazlur Rehman Kahlil of Jamiat al-Ansar alias Harkatul Mujahideen; Maulana Abdullah Shah Mazhar, the organiser of the Jamiatul Furqan, a rebel outfit of Jaish; and Maulana Ali Sher Haidri and Maulana Ahmad Ludhianvi from the banned Sunni militant outfit Millat-e-Islamia, it said.

All these outfits were banned by President Pervez Musharraf in February 2002 and he subsequently proscribed them once again in 2003 after they resurfaced with new names.

Despite the ban, the leaders and the cadres were permitted to remain free with a few restrictions like reporting to police when they go out of their native towns.

Significantly, an unidentified official was quoted as saying that the experiment to deal with the militants sternly with bans had failed.

"When the Government turns the screws on them, they take al-Qaeda cover which is more dangerous than giving them some liberties. After all they are Pakistanis and we can persuade them to curb their unlawful activities," the official said.

Though details of concessions being offered to leaders of the militant outfits were not made public, the paper said. According to officials, the Government could exempt the militants from reporting to the police regularly and allow organisational activities, which would be limited to preaching in lieu of their support.

Defending the new strategy, the official said, "It will not be a retreat, but an effort to protect the security of the country and foreign interests. It is necessary to give them a chance to mend their ways."

The strategy was reportedly evolved after the recent terrorist attacks on Musharraf and a spate of suicide attacks in Quetta and Karachi.