‘Terrorists trained for 30 years can’t be rooted out in few years’

Lahore: PILDAT delineates the 20-point National Action Plan in an easy and understandable manner for the citizens through its publication called the People's National Action Plan (NAP).

People's NAP was shared by PILDAT at a public forum held here on Friday. The forum was addressed by journalist Mujeeb ur Rahman Shami; Lt-Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider, former Sindh governor and former interior minister, Ms Marva Khan, teaching fellow, Lahore University of Management Sciences and Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president, PILDAT. Habeeb Akram, Rauf Tahir, Hafeezullah Niazi, Dr Murad Ras, MPA of PTI, Vikas Hassan Mokal, MPA of PML-Q, Waheed Gul, MPA of PML-N and Ms Azma Bukhari, MPA of PML-N.

Mujeeb ur Rahman Shami highlighted NAP's importance as a consensus document between both political parties and civil and military leadership while expressing his dismay at the lack of progress on criminal justice reforms.

Lt-Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider termed NAP a constant struggle, saying that terrorists who had been trained for 30 years could not be rooted out in two or three years. He, however, appreciated the strides made by Punjab government in implementation of National Action Plan.

Waheed Gul, MPA of Punjab Assembly, called for a national consultation with all stakeholders for the effective implementation of NAP. Ms Azma Bukhari said that Pakistanis should rise above their party or institutional affiliations and put Pakistan first. Earlier while giving an overview of the People's NAP, Ahmed Bilal Mehboob stated that the People's NAP explained in detail each of the 20-points of the National Action Plan.

Each point also highlights the particular role and responsibility of each stakeholder, including governments, parliament and provincial assemblies, citizens and CSOs for the purpose of facilitating greater appreciation and ownership of implementation of NAP.

The NAP serves as the landmark consensus blueprint for combating terrorism and violent extremism in Pakistan. The 20-point NAP has been described, both by the civil and military leadership, as the most important road map for the struggle against terrorism in the country.

It is in view of the high importance of the NAP and questions about its progress of implementation that PILDAT has undertaken this citizens' initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to highlight the necessity of the federal and provincial governments' publicly sharing periodic status of implementation of the NAP.

PILDAT strongly believes that greater transparency and more frequent public reporting on the progress of implementation will promote public confidence in the governments and their ability to effectively implement the NAP.

PILDAT's objective in sharing the People's National Action Plan is that through greater understanding and ownership, citizens will be able to play a more effective and proactive role in supporting the implementation status of NAP at the federal and the provincial levels.