Nawaz Sharif chairs a key huddle to review implementation on NAP at the PM House. PHOTO: INP
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met his senior aides and military leadership on Monday to review the overall security situation in the country. It was the third meeting between the top civil and military leaders since the killing of 74 people, mostly lawyers, in a suicide bombing at Quetta’s Civil Hospital on August 8.
The NAP implementation committee will comprise the interior secretary, director general of the National Counter Terrorism Authority, provincial secretaries, IGPs, home secretaries and an additional secretary of PM’s Office. The committee will also be assisted by a representative from each of the intelligence agencies while the military will be represented by the director general military operations.
Two days back, the civil and military leaders decided to form a task force, primarily to improve coordination among federal and provincial law-enforcement and intelligence agencies in the fight against terrorism. “The implementation committee will oversee overall progress on all the 20 points of NAP,” a source in the Prime Minister House confirmed to The Express Tribune.
Monday’s meeting also reviewed the existing mechanism to check funding of terrorists and agreed to further increase stringent controls, the Prime Minister House said in a statement. Moreover, the meeting decided to raise 29 new wings of civil armed forces to improve border management and ensure internal security.
A senior government official told The Express Tribune that the NAP implementation committee would be mandated to take operational measures to look into all aspects of terrorism. “To stop terror funding, it will coordinate with commercial banks that will provide necessary assistance under the supervision of the State Bank of Pakistan,” the official said requesting not to be named in the report.
“The move primarily aims at stopping internal and foreign funding to banned outfits and their monetary arms operating under the garb of corporate entities or charities,” he added.
He said the additional wings of Frontier Corps (FC) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa would be established as part of a reviewed border management strategy. “The focus will be on the western border to stop illegal border crossings, while a strict vigil will also be kept at the eastern border and the Line of Control (LoC) to check ceasefire violations by India,” a source said.
He said unprovoked firing at the LoC by Indian security forces on Sunday was also discussed in the meeting.
Official statement said the recent passage of the Cybercrime Bill by parliament also came under discussion. “It was decided that an implementation mechanisms to deal with this law will be put in place at the earliest,” it added.
The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, army chief General Raheel Sharif, PM’s Adviser and Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi, National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, DG Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, and senior civil and military officials.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2016.
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