NAP authorities identified 20 ‘vacuums’ in society

The higher authorities in charge of National Action Plan have identified 20 points or 20 ‘vacuums’ and ‘dark areas in our society’ with the idea of dealing yet bigger blow to terrorists of all the identified major categories against whom more than two lakh troops and security personnel are fighting consistently and with unprecedented valour, writes Mian Saifur Rehman. This was disclosed the other day by some high profile sources within the government during an interaction with media seniors on the condition of anonymity. 

Taking up the 20 points one by one, the authorities stated that each point of the NAP required a complete plan and strategy to deal with it. Some of the points were converging to unity but some of the points were on divergence within our society so it was necessary to build consensus on the dividing points after National Security Plan was put behind and National Action Plan became the priority and got prominence. 

The NAP implementation started from Punjab. But ‘Dharna’ call from a political party caused some problems. And that time was also the time of transition of the Chief of Army Staff. The sources opined at this occasion that had the NAP been taken before all the participants at that critical time, it would not have been as feasible for all of them to give proper time to it due to other respective, important pursuits. 

Reiterating the need for ‘same page understanding’ for dealing with the menace of terrorism that ought to be combated with missionary zeal and with pragmatism and prudence, the sources said the provinces are to deal with the security of people and law and order and, as such, they need to take lead in it. 

It was further disclosed that the National Action Implementation Committee not only included interior secretary but the representatives of provinces as well in addition to additional secretary, PM Office and other relevant agencies but the Plan was to be implemented in provinces as chief minister of every province was given the lead and chief secretary, IG, law-enforcing agencies and line departments were given role in it. The similar structure was made in Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata. The Committee of AJK is to be headed by PM AJK and chief secretary, IG and other departments were also part of it. 

It was further revealed that terrorism was categorised into hardcore terrorism, terrorism enablers and state enablers. The first category was of armed militia which included sectarianism, Balochistan, Karachi, militancy in Punjab, TTP, AQ/AQIS, SN and Daish. There was unison in civil-military leadership to deal with them. Therefore, the military Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched. Those causing more damage to Pakistan included, among other terrorist organisations, sectarian organisations and the TTP. 

According to the sources, two lakh armed forces and security agencies were committed to tackling this threat from these terror outfits whose leadership was hiding in Afghanistan and enjoying the support of Afghan agencies and other hostile agencies of other countries including India. “Afghan agencies are also supporting Afghan conflict and the purpose of it is not to win peace but to win war. International players blame Pakistan for supporting the TTP in Afghanistan and Haqqani network. They also threaten Pakistan with serious implications but the fact remains that the security forces are not supporting any act being done in Afghanistan. 

The fact, according to the sources is that Afghan government, in order to hide its failures was putting all the blame on Pakistan whereas Haqqani network vs TTP situation was being used by Afghanistan as tit-for- tat and for exploiting our vulnerabilities. 

It is also a proven fact that Haqqani network has been dented in Pakistan but their connivance with others can cause problems. In the circumstances, it is imperative that Pakistan facilitate reconciliation at the earliest in Afghanistan by using less kinetic operations to normalise regional situations and by charting out workable CBMs. “And the need is also felt to seek the US help for eliminating Mullah Fazlullah, who is operating from Afghanistan”. 

As for the enhanced role of provinces, stress was laid on enhancing the capacity of police in provinces and reactivation of CTD besides putting in place a mechanism by way of which NACTA would share important information with all operations centres. It is also under consideration that data relating to crime, terrorism, criminals and terrorists will be stored and NACTA will present the model in this regard. 

It was also disclosed that the government was seriously trying to choke financing for terrorists and terrorist organisations through Foreign Exchange Regulations, anti-money laundering laws and by keeping an eye on suspicious transactions. There is a complete financial monitoring unit in place. 

Equal stress has been laid on formulation of a comprehensive policy to deal with the issue of Afghan refugees. As regards state enablers, it was told that NACTA has built up a force in this regard and Fata reforms are also being mulled.   

While telling about execution of terrorists, the sources stated that 275 cases have been finally approved for military courts. The Apex Committee of provinces discussed the cases and finalised 267 cases, out of which 153 were awarded death sentence, 113 imprisonment, one acquittal and 12 executed while eight are left over (to be decided by January 6, 2017).