NAP will take time to implement due to political challenges: DG ISPR

MOSCOW: While Pakistan has already initiated some parts of the National Action Plan (NAP) to eliminate terrorism, other aspects require more time due to political challenges, DG ISPR Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa told Russian magazine Sputnik.


He said Pakistan’s new anti-terrorism NAP was proving effective in cutting the funding of terrorist groups operating in the country.

“One of the biggest achievements of the plan were the physical operations in FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], intelligence-based operations and choking the funding of terrorist groups,” Bajwa said.

He added that Pakistan is expanding its anti-extremism measures focusing on younger people, who are the primary targets of terrorist recruitment.

“In regards to Safoora Goth tragedy, there was educated youth involved,” Bajwa said, stressing however that “it does not mean that the entire youth of Pakistan is radicalised or is involved in extremism.”

Pakistan stepped up its anti-terrorism efforts after Pakistani Taliban gunmen killed more than 150 people, including 134 children, at a school in the city of Peshawar in December 2014.

The same month Pakistan lifted its death penalty moratorium for those convicted of terrorism.

In 2015, the Pakistani government established the NAP to crack down on terrorism and to supplement the ongoing anti-terrorist offensive with long-term measures against extremism.

NAP includes terrorism funding prevention measures, reforms in the criminal justice sector and the build-up of law enforcement agencies’ capacity.