On the Nacta front

For all our battlefield successes, the war against militancy is far from having been completely won. On Wednesday, Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa spoke about how the militant threat has been contained – and indeed he is correct to the extent that militant groups no longer control the wide swathes of territory they once did. As the run-up to the general elections showed, however, militant groups still have the ability to carry out large attacks. If they are to be truly eliminated, it is vital that the government follow through on all planks of the National Action Plan, from displaying zero-tolerance for extremism from any group to better harnessing our intelligence resources as a preventative measure. On the intelligence front, NAP had called for the empowering of the National Counter Terrorism Authority – a body that has been all but defunct since its creation in 2009. This week, Prime Minister Imran Khan sought to change that as he became the first head of state to chair a meeting of Nacta. He announced the formation of a committee to overhaul Nacta’s working and said it would be provided with all the necessary resources. The renewed attention given to Nacta is certainly welcome but the prime minister will now have to follow through since the challenges facing the counterterrorism authority cannot be addressed overnight.

First, Imran Khan will have to decide if Nacta will be under the supervision of the prime minister himself or the interior ministry. Ever since the body’s inception, there has been a tussle for control – with neither side able to assert its authority, leaving Nacta leaderless and all but ignored. Then, the prime minister will have to ensure that all intelligence agencies are on board. Originally, Nacta was conceived as a clearinghouse for intelligence from all the different civilian and intelligence agencies. This has not been put into practice because of various turf battles and the inherent suspicion state institutions have of each other. Raw intelligence on its own is rarely useful. It is only when various strands of data are combined and intelligently analysed that it becomes workable. This requires trust between agencies and the willingness to share intelligence with Nacta. The only hope of achieving that is for Nacta to be fully-staffed and operational. Once that is done, the prime minister – working together with the interior ministry – should lead by example and demonstrate that it sees Nacta as the central depository for intelligence. Militancy is a threat so potent that the only way to defeat it is by presenting a united front. Nacta needs to become that united front.