NAP needs time for political challenges: 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, ISPR chief Maj Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa told the Russian magazine Sputnik.
He said Pakistan’s new anti-terrorism National Action Plan 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.
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 National Action Plan to crack down on terrorism and to supplement the ongoing anti-terrorist offensive with long-term measures against extremism. Pakistan’s National Action Plan includes terrorism funding prevention measures, reforms in the criminal justice sector and the build-up of law enforcement agencies’ capacity.