ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday began addressing the military’s concerns about the faltering counterterrorism strategy commonly known as the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism.
As the first steps, the government approved a plan for setting up of 29 wings of the Frontier Corps and constituted the body that would oversee the implementation of NAP.
“Twenty-nine new wings of Civil Armed Forces would be established to improve border management and internal security,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO). It also announced the composition of the NAP Implementation Committee whose establishment had been previously agreed.
The committee to be headed by National Security Adviser retired Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua would include director general military operations, interior secretary, director general of National Counter-Terrorism Authority, chief secretaries, inspectors general of police, home secretaries, additional secretary PMO and representatives of intelligence agencies.
FC to have 29 more wings; NSA will lead body on NAP implementation
The decisions were taken at a civil-military meeting held on Monday with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the chair. This was the third such meeting over the past six days.
The government has been under persistent pressure from the military to accelerate the steps that were required for an effective execution of NAP — a policy agreed by consensus by all political parties after the December 2014 Army Public School tragedy.
Military’s disquiet over the government’s sluggish performance on counterterrorism became more focused since last week’s suicide attack at the Quetta Civil Hospital.
Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif in a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations on Friday warned that lack of progress on NAP was affecting the consolidation phase of Operation Zarb-i-Azb.
The military’s concerns relate to an uncertain future of the Protection of Pakistan Act, a major counterterrorism legislation that expired last month under which special courts had been set up; political leadership’s reluctance to allow special powers for Rangers in both Punjab and the whole of Sindh; issues concerning preventive detention of suspected persons for inquiry; poor prosecution in terrorism cases; lack of progress on Fata and madressah reforms; problems with raising of new Frontier Corps wings in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; lack of focus on capacity building of civilian law enforcement agencies and allocation of funds required for countering terrorism.
According to a security source, “incremental progress” is being made towards reinvigorating NAP. He said that apart from the agreement on new FC wings, other concerns continue to remain unaddressed.
The 29 new FC wings agreed by the prime minister, the source disclosed, was the target for this year, whereas 73 new wings have to be established in all.
With regard to terrorism financing, the finance ministry and State Bank were asked to take the required actions.
The meeting, according to the statement, also agreed on putting in place a mechanism for the implementation of cybercrime laws. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill was last week passed by the National Assembly and is awaiting presidential assent.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2016
