Apex Committee meeting: Centre, KP institutions to coordinate to eliminate illegal activities

PESHAWAR: The Apex Committee of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Security Architecture (KPISA) on Tuesday stressed the need to strengthen coordination mechanisms among relevant provincial and federal institutions to eliminate the illegal spectrum.

Chief Minister Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur chaired the meeting, said a handout.

Provincial cabinet members Mian Khaliq-ul-Rehman, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Muzzammil Aslam, Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur, Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant-General Hassan Azhar Hayat, other civil, military officials and representatives from the relevant federal departments attended the meeting.

The participants reviewed the implementation status of the decisions taken in the last meeting against the illegal spectrum in the province.

The officials reiterated the commitment to eliminate extortion, hawala hundi, illegal weapons, smuggling, fake documentation, narcotics and all other illegal spectrum supporting or facilitating terrorist activities in the province.

They recommended that the next meeting of the Central Apex Committee should be held in Peshawar to resolve the issues related to the federation in this regard.

The forum reviewed the matters related to the profiling of Non-Customs-Paid (NCP) vehicles. It decided to carry on strict actions against all types of illegal activities proved to be as supporter or facilitator of terrorism in the province. It was decided that relevant federal and provincial departments/agencies would take joint and integrated actions against those activities.

A decision was made to create a joint task force consisting of law-enforcement agencies in addition to increasing the powers of Counter-Terrorism Department to effectively deal with the issue of extortion. The participants said elements found involved in smuggling, extortion, narcotics and other illegal spectrum would be dealt with an iron hand.

They decided to take stern action against the government officials found involved in facilitating the smugglers.

The forum decided to strengthen the joint check-posts equipping them with the latest technology for the purpose.

It was decided to establish a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre for rehabilitation of drug addicts in the province.

The meeting decided to put in place a track and trace mechanism to stop the smuggling and transportation of illegal items besides strengthening of Police, Excise, Customs, Anti-Narcotics Force and other relevant institutions to curb the illegal spectrum. It was also decided to fully operationalize the district implementation committees for the enforcement of Apex Committee decisions. Authorities concerned were directed to devise a plan in consultation with all stakeholders. The forum decided to take up the issue of NCP vehicles with the federal government to decide their fate. The forum was apprised that in the last four months profiling of over 100,000 NCP vehicles had been carried out.

The meeting deliberated upon the matters related to the prevention of illegal use of explosives and decided to impose a ban on fireworks and carry out the audit of authorization of explosives already issued.

The forum was told that over 300,000 illegal foreigners had been voluntarily repatriated to their countries while profiling of Afghan citizen cardholders had been initiated.

It was said that during the last year smuggled goods worth Rs6 billion had been confiscated while 78 tons of narcotics had also been seized in joint operations.

Moreover, over 9 million illegal mobile SIMS had also been blocked during action against illegal spectrums while Rs1.93 billion had been confiscated during rides against Hawala Hundi.