Pakistan witnesses 80pc decline in terror attacks

Over 7,000 hardcore militants arrested under NAP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have claimed to have curtailed militant activities by around 80% since the deadliest attack occurred in an Army run school in Peshawar in December 2014.

More than 7, 000 hardcore terrorists were arrested and over 2,400 militants were killed in a countrywide swoop after the attack which prompted the government to launch the National Action Plan (NAP) to counter militancy, official statistics showed on Tuesday.

“It’s official now. Terrorist activities declined 80% in the past 17 months in Pakistan,” revealed an official progress report prepared by the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA).

Law enforcement agencies arrested 4,388 key terrorists and 2,255 militants killed in various operations against armed militias across the country in the last one and half year, read the report exclusively obtained by Geo News.

After launching of NAP, the provinces raised counter-terrorism forces with strength of 7,816 personnel to combat terrorism. Punjab has raised 4,000 personlled for countering terrorism and Sindh trained a special squad of 188 police personnel by increasing it to 1,000 by end of this year.

Official documents continued to reveal that Balochistan raised a special security force consisting of 1,000 personnel and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa trained 2,200 personnel with help of military to combat terrorist attacks at sensitive places in the province.

Similarly, Azad Jammu and Kashmir trained 260 personnel and Gilgit-Baltistan trained 168 commandos to counter terrorism. The country’s home departments executed 364 prisoners who were on death row as moratorium was lifted after theNAP announced. Over 190 cases have been transferred by provinces to 11 special trial courts since then.

Law enforcement agencies filed cases against 10, 420 firebrand speakers, who delivered hate speeches under misuse of loudspeakers laws by arresting 10, 671 clerics and confiscated 3, 070 equipment.

Over 973 URLs and 10 websites of proscribed organisations have been blocked by ministry of information technology as part of tangible measures against abuse of internet and social media for terrorism. In an ongoing operation against militants in Punjab, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested 1, 132 hardcore militants and put 405 suspects on Schedule IV list. The CTD also arrested 649 terrorists’ facilitators and arrested 78 firebrand speakers accordingly. Dismantling communication networks of terrorists, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority blocked 98.3 million SIMs.

About madressahs reforms, NACTA claimed that a uniform registration and data has been developed by taking input from all stakeholders and is ready for implementation. 182 madressahs were closed up by law enforcement agencies after they were found involved in supporting militants. 167 madressahs were sealed in Sindh, 13 in KP and 2 seminaries were closed up in Punjab. The agencies also traced 190 madressahs which are taking foreign funding in the country. 147 seminaries are taking foreign aid in Punjab, 30 in Balochistan, seven in KP and six seminaries are taking foreign assistance in Sindh.

Punjab is apparently taking lead after law enforcement agencies registered over 92, 000 cases against suspected terrorists in an effort to swiftly execute the NAP in past five months. All cases were filed under new terror laws Punjab government introduced but poor conviction ratio also raised a serious question over prosecution standards in the province.

But about this achievement , Tasneem Noorani, ex secretary interior says we still have a long way to go in countering militancy. “Terrorist activities may have gone down 80% as so far NAP is concerned in my view 80% still remains to be implemented in Pakistan,” Noorani observed. Madressahs reforms and terror financing are two key points of NAP which have yet to be touched by the government and many more in count, he said. Most of the momentum is being generated with initiative of the military which has executed NAP well, he added.

NACTA National Coordinator Ihsan Ghani says: “NAP has made visible impact on the law & order and security situation in the country where terrorist attacks have climbed down to pre-2005 level.”

There is though a need to sustain this momentum and that can be achieved through soft long term measures, Ghani opined. With guidance from interior ministry and in coordination with all relevant stakeholders,  NACTA is now moving in to this realm and has embarked on revamping of the criminal justice system and formulation of National Counter Extremism Policy, he added.