Security huddle : PM promises a secure Pakistan for all faiths
Orders intelligence-sharing to check rising child abduction cases
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presides over a meeting in Islamabad on Monday. PHOTO: APP
ISLAMABAD:
The prime minister on Monday called for consolidating the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb and National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism as he pledged to make Pakistan a secure place for every ethnicity and religion.
Nawaz Sharif also directed greater coordination and intelligence sharing between federal agencies and the provinces to stem the tide of growing incidents of child abduction, especially in Punjab.
He was presiding over a high-level huddle at the Prime Minister House where attendees included top intelligence and security officials, including ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar and Intelligence Bureau head Aftab Sultan. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua and other senior government officials were also in attendance.
This year 767 children have been reportedly abducted across Punjab, while 6,793 children have been kidnapped since 2011. Most of these children were kidnapped from Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar. The alarming figures prompted the Supreme Court to take notice, and Punjab to seek help from Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to apprehend the culprits.
Premier Nawaz expressed surprise over the uptick in kidnappings at a time when the overall security situation in the country has improved remarkably, official sources told The Express Tribune. “This new dimension of crime needs to be dealt with in multi-dimensional ways,” a source quoted him as saying.
The prime minister was told that militants and other criminal elements who had fled the operations in Karachi and tribal regions were involved in kidnapping children.
Sources said the premier directed the federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies to not only work in close coordination with the provinces but also ensure inter-provincial, as well as intra-provincial coordination for effectively countering terrorism in general and child kidnapping in Punjab in particular.
“The federal government would facilitate the provincial governments on counterterrorism by effective coordination and intelligence-sharing through federal agencies,” reads a statement issued by the Prime Minister House after the meeting.
Nawaz, official sources said, also appreciated the Sindh government decision to extend the Rangers’ stay in the province for a year with a grant of policing powers to the paramilitary force for 90 days. The prime minister had already authorised powers for Sindh Rangers till the provincial government approved an extension.
Moreover, the meeting discussed options to restore the Protection of Pakistan Act (PoPA) either through legislation or with a presidential ordinance, The Express Tribune has learnt. The law lapsed on July 15 and has not been restored or extended so far.
According to the PM House statement, Premier Nawaz called for consolidating gains made in NAP and Operation Zarb-e-Azb, “The gains of NAP and Operation Zarb-e-Azb and the progress achieved so far would be consolidated through coordination at federal and provincial levels with the backing of national resolve.”
He added that the country has “embarked upon the right track and every citizen would reap the benefits of a secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan.”
“We will make Pakistan secure for every ethnicity and religion.”
Nawaz noted with satisfaction that elements of terrorism and extremism were “receding from the country due to countless sacrifices rendered by the country’s valiant law enforcement agencies, unflinching resolve of the entire nation and efforts of the federal and provincial governments.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2016.
The prime minister on Monday called for consolidating the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb and National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism as he pledged to make Pakistan a secure place for every ethnicity and religion.
Nawaz Sharif also directed greater coordination and intelligence sharing between federal agencies and the provinces to stem the tide of growing incidents of child abduction, especially in Punjab.
He was presiding over a high-level huddle at the Prime Minister House where attendees included top intelligence and security officials, including ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar and Intelligence Bureau head Aftab Sultan. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua and other senior government officials were also in attendance.
This year 767 children have been reportedly abducted across Punjab, while 6,793 children have been kidnapped since 2011. Most of these children were kidnapped from Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar. The alarming figures prompted the Supreme Court to take notice, and Punjab to seek help from Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to apprehend the culprits.
Premier Nawaz expressed surprise over the uptick in kidnappings at a time when the overall security situation in the country has improved remarkably, official sources told The Express Tribune. “This new dimension of crime needs to be dealt with in multi-dimensional ways,” a source quoted him as saying.
The prime minister was told that militants and other criminal elements who had fled the operations in Karachi and tribal regions were involved in kidnapping children.
Sources said the premier directed the federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies to not only work in close coordination with the provinces but also ensure inter-provincial, as well as intra-provincial coordination for effectively countering terrorism in general and child kidnapping in Punjab in particular.
“The federal government would facilitate the provincial governments on counterterrorism by effective coordination and intelligence-sharing through federal agencies,” reads a statement issued by the Prime Minister House after the meeting.
Nawaz, official sources said, also appreciated the Sindh government decision to extend the Rangers’ stay in the province for a year with a grant of policing powers to the paramilitary force for 90 days. The prime minister had already authorised powers for Sindh Rangers till the provincial government approved an extension.
Moreover, the meeting discussed options to restore the Protection of Pakistan Act (PoPA) either through legislation or with a presidential ordinance, The Express Tribune has learnt. The law lapsed on July 15 and has not been restored or extended so far.
According to the PM House statement, Premier Nawaz called for consolidating gains made in NAP and Operation Zarb-e-Azb, “The gains of NAP and Operation Zarb-e-Azb and the progress achieved so far would be consolidated through coordination at federal and provincial levels with the backing of national resolve.”
He added that the country has “embarked upon the right track and every citizen would reap the benefits of a secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan.”
“We will make Pakistan secure for every ethnicity and religion.”
Nawaz noted with satisfaction that elements of terrorism and extremism were “receding from the country due to countless sacrifices rendered by the country’s valiant law enforcement agencies, unflinching resolve of the entire nation and efforts of the federal and provincial governments.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2016.