LAHORE (Agencies) Police rounded up scores of activists of banned militant organisations in a fresh crackdown in Punjab, officials said on Monday, in the countrys heartland and traditional seat of power. The arrests were made less than two weeks after suicide bombers killed 42 people at the countrys most popular Sufi shrine in Lahore. Though no one claimed responsibility for the July 1 twin suicide bombings at the shrine of Syed Ali Hajveri, officials have blamed the Punjabi Taliban. The latest crackdown came days before the visit of Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna and an expected visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. We have clear-cut instructions from the government that these militant groups cannot operate, police official Akram Naeem Bharoka told Reuters. Most of the suspected militants detained in the crackdown belonged to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). The group now operates under the name of Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan (MIP) which has also been officially banned. Around 100 members of our organisation have been arrested throughout the province since last night, Mohammad Younis, a spokesman for MIP told Reuters. Some members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity seen as a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for the 2008 attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, were also detained. A security official said dozens of suspects had been rounded up under a public maintenance law which allows authorities to detain people up to 90 days without charge. These people are already under surveillance and they have been detained for one month for now, he said. The government has ordered a policy of zero tolerance against all these groups. There are at least 2,000 to 2,200 activists of banned outfits being closely monitored in Punjab, police official Bharoka told AFP. A wave of deadly attacks carried out by Taliban and other Al-Qaeda-linked extremists has killed more than 3,500 people during the last three years. Although most of the violence is concentrated in northwest, Punjabs capital Lahore has suffered 10 major attacks killing more than 300 people since March 2009. We have arrested at least eight people belonging to different banned organisations, Lahore city police chief Aslam Tareen told AFP. These organisations have been involved in distributing hate material and promoting sectarianism, he said. The government ordered police to curb the activities of these groups, he added. Punjab police also held search operation and launched crackdown on the activists of banned organisations in other cities of the province including Jhang, Shorkot, Multan, Shuja Abad and Jahanian; and detained dozens of suspected activists of banned organisations. However, raids in Jahanian have failed as leaders and workers of the banned organisations have gone underground in view of ongoing crackdown against them. Some senior lawmakers and politicians in Punjab have been accused of alleged links with SSP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which was among several groups involved in the kidnap and beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl in January 2002. Religious leaders demanded the resignation of provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah for alleged links to militants after 43 people were killed in a suicide attack on the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajveri on July 2 in the citys most recent attack.