NAP implementation status reviewed at PILDAT’s forum

Lahore: The Punjab government is committed to speedy and effective implementation of the National Action Plan, said Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan, a spokesperson and adviser to the chief minister on information and culture while speaking at PILDAT’s Public Forum on Implementation of NAP at a local hotel on Wednesday.

Appreciating PILDAT’s role as monitor of implementation of NAP from citizens’ perspective, Khan said that the Punjab government remained committed not just to effective implementation of NAP but was also reporting on its progress which led to the government sharing data with PILDAT on the status of implementation in the first two years. He said the Punjab government was making strides particularly in the area of forensics and surveillance. However, he was of the view that revamping of the criminal justice system would take at least 10 years with sustained and concerted efforts.Members of PILDAT’s Steering Committee on the Implementation of National Action Plan, Dr Noel Israel Khokar, Tasneem Noorani and Lt-Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider also spoke on the occasion.

Dr Noel Israel Khokhar, executive dean, Forman Christian College, thanked the Punjab Government for willingly sharing data with PILDAT and candidly participating in discussions on implementation progress of NAP. He explained that PILDAT’s Monitor on Implementation of NAP to Counter Terrorism was a citizens’ initiative to help federal and provincial governments in assessing their performance. The PILDAT’s Monitor on Implementation of NAP should, therefore, be taken by governments as indicator of where the pace of progress required improvement. Dr Khokhar also said that tangible progress on NAP would only be visible if uniform progress was achieved on all 20 NAP points across federal and provincial governments.

Tasneem Noorani, former interior secretary , appreciated PILDAT’s methodical overview of the status of implementation of NAP while he believed that the analysis showed the overall implementation of NAP had not been satisfactory.  He also mentioned the case of ineffective checking of terrorist financing in which he said that committees constituted for the purpose should work on addressing the lacunas in the area.

Lt-Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider highlighted the gains achieved through military operations particularly in establishing the writ of the government in the areas which were previously hit by terrorism. He was of the view that criminal justice system reforms were essential and the re-housing of internally displaced persons was an important aspect of NAP. However, he expressed his disappointment on the status of implementation of FATA reforms and said that work on the reforms was stopped at the eleventh hour due to the reservations of certain political leaders. Aasiya Riaz, PILDAT joint director, said the federal and provincial governments had not regularly made available a progress status on the implementation of the NAP. It is in view of the high importance of the NAP and questions about its progress of implementation that PILDAT has undertaken a citizens’ initiative to monitor the progress of implementation of the NAP at the national and provincial levels, she said. He said that owing to lack of complete data received from all entities, PILDAT had released an interim monitor that contained the working data for national and provincial progress. The interim monitor has been termed ‘interim’ as data on many parameters in this monitor is incomplete, especially for provinces except Punjab, she added.  She said that the status of implementation of NAP from January 2015 to December 2016 showed that only three NAP points received good or very good progress rating; three other points received satisfactory progress; progress on four points was outright unsatisfactory whereas 10 points indicated somewhat unsatisfactory progress in PILDAT’s assessment.