Apex committees also to meet in Peshawar and Lahore

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accompanied by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, will preside over meetings of the apex committees in Peshawar and Lahore, similar to those chaired in Karachi and Quetta, to give a big push to the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism.
“The purpose of the prime minister’s visits is to personally monitor the realisation of the NAP and issue directions where necessary so that there is no laxity on the part of any stakeholder. It is also intended to give a clear message to all and sundry to deliver or face the music,” a senior official told The News.
He said that when Nawaz Sharif visits Peshawar to chair the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) apex committee, he would also invite Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to attend it as the prime minister ensured the presence of key political stakeholders in Karachi and Quetta.
In the Sindh capital, he made it a point that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief former president Asif Ali Zardari, who has supported the NAP without any ifs and buts, was in attendance.The official said that as repeatedly made clear by Nawaz Sharif, no slackness or leniency was acceptable in translating the NAP into reality in its true letter and spirit.
He said when the prime minister, the COAS and other high-ranking political and military leaders were present in these sessions, the deliberations were definitely be result-oriented and productive.
“These discussions have also provided enough first-hand information to Nawaz Sharif to plug the loopholes, if any, and pull up the concerned quarters where needed,” the official said.Apart from the provincial chief ministers, senior representatives of the Pakistan army, police, intelligence outfits and other law enforcement agencies are part of the apex committees, which were constituted after the amendments in the Constitution and Pakistan Army Act were approved by the parliament to pave way for the establishment of military court to try hardcore terrorists.
The official said the deliberations clearly demonstrated the stress and focus of the prime minister on eliminating terrorism, and emphasised that the same attention would have to be paid by the chief ministers and other concerned.
During his sessions in Karachi and Quetta, Nawaz Sharif underlined that the NAP was not a government plan but was of the entire political leadership that accorded approval to it in the all parties’ conferences, showing a rare unanimity. He wants the consensus against a national issue remains intact.
“It is responsibility of the government to ensure implementation of the NAP in order to root out the curse of terrorism and extremism from Pakistan,” the prime minister said in Quetta and added that he was happy to see civilian and military leadership on one page.
During the Karachi and Quetta meetings, elaborate details were given to Nawaz Sharif about the implementation of various aspects of the NAP particularly arrests of terrorists, referral of their cases to the military courts, operations so far conducted against criminals etc.