NAP is agenda of Pakistan’s integrity, security: Ch Nisar Ali Khan

Lahore: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Wednesday said that National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism was the agenda of Pakistan’s integrity, security and there should be no politics over it.

Speaking at the upper house of the parliament, he said as a result of NAP, remarkable improvement had been witnessed in the security situation and for the first time there was decline in suicide attacks, abductions and attacks on Law Enforcement Agencies. He, however, added that a lot more had to be done for complete eradication of terrorism from the country.

He was responding to various questions of Senators in the Upper House of Parliament regarding implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) during the last one year.

He said implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) was a shared responsibility as 10 out of 20 points related to provinces, eight to various ministries and others with the military and the intelligence agencies. He said there was satisfactory progress on 15 points and slow on the remaining five, adding that removing the degeneration of the last 20 to 25 years would take some time.

The Minister said there were 20,000 students in both registered and unregistered seminaries of the federal capital. In the past, he said, seminaries were established even on green belts but the present government has not allowed construction of any seminary without proper permission.

Chaudhry Nisar said dialogue process was started with Taliban under a strategy formulated in consultation with military and political leadership.He said after the failure of dialogue, operation Zarb-e-Azb had been launched against terrorists with consensus of military and civilian leadership. He, however, said that a military operation alone could not rectify the situation and the ministry has formed a policy in this regard.

In coordination with the provincial governments, he said, a lot of big acts of terrorism were pre-empted, adding that during the last one year 6500 intelligence based operations were conducted.

Chaudhry Nisar said networks of terrorists had been broken, however, elimination of their facilitators would take some time.

The Minister said although situation in Balochistan was not normal but there was a marked improvement in the law and order situation in the province.

The Minister said that FATA reforms would be carried out in consultations with all the stakeholders. He added that a committee for FATA reforms, headed by Senator Sartaj Aziz would present its report to the government in next few days.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a Joint Intelligence Directorate of NACTA would be functional very soon and added that it would be a big step forward in tackling the fight against terrorism.

The Minister said International NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) were being brought under the ambit of law and their working was being made transparent.

He said in the first two months, the process of registration of INGOs would be completed afresh, adding that so far 127 INGOs had applied for online registration. Only registered INGOs would be allowed to work in Pakistan, he added.

It was for the first time that 61 proscribed organizations had been put on record, adding that these organizations had also been banned from Pakistani media.

The Minister said under Schedule-Four, more than 8,000 people had been identified and they were being monitored. At least 11.5 crore SIMs (Subscriber Identity Module) had been registered in the country while nine crore SIMs were blocked, he informed.