Tackling terrorism: Unfair to ignore NAP successes, says Nisar

Claims marked improvement in security situation

ISLAMABAD:

The top security czar has said the overall security situation has improved considerably since the Peshawar school tragedy and it is unfair to ignore the successes against terrorism.

“Sporadic incidents, however tragic and horrific, should not be allowed to cloud our positive achievements,” claimed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Monday.  He was speaking to a batch of 30 newly promoted major generals, who had participated in a ‘Command and Leadership’ course at the National Defence University.



The government as well as the military have once again come under criticism in the wake of the Bacha Khan University attack in Charsadda that left at least 21 students and staffers dead.



After the Army Public School attack, Nisar said, the government chalked out the country’s first-ever National Action Plan (NAP) to deal with terrorism in the shortest possible time.

“It will be quite unfair to feign ignorance to the successes achieved under the NAP, made possible only through continued efforts of the armed forces, including security and intelligence agencies,” he added.

Nisar believed the civil-military understanding corroborated by political consensus has been the single largest contributing factor in improving the security situation.

“We must always think beyond ourselves and take internal security as a national issue and obligation,” he said. “Those who spread despondency and pessimism after every incident play into the hands of our enemies.”

He added some political parties and individuals were hell bent on scoring political points at the cost of national interest. “Statements and analysis by certain political leaders and their cohorts send a message of weakness and cowardice.”

The interior minister said internal security was a multi-faceted, multi-pronged and multi-dimensional responsibility that required continuous efforts, monitoring and fine-tuning. “Internal security is affected by internal, regional and geopolitical factors,” he said. “Besides our known enemies, there are others in the garb of friends who want to benefit by creating instability.”

Nisar also blamed the previous governments for not tackling terrorism. He said no internal security policy or framework had been devised by the previous governments despite huge sufferings.

“The governments continued to turn a blind eye as hundreds and thousands of lives were lost and five to six explosions were a daily occurrence across the country,” he claimed.



While recounting various challenges in formulating internal security policies, the minister recalled the real challenge in June 2013, when the current government took over, was not only in dealing with militants but also in taking to task their sympathisers.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th,  2016.