Counterterror plan: Panel overseeing NAP progress meets today

The body is mandated to identify and address grey areas hindering the action plan

ISLAMABAD: A key committee formed to implement the country’s counter-terrorism strategy will hold its maiden session on Monday under the chairmanship of National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (r) Nasser Khan Janjua.

It is mandated to identify and address grey areas hindering the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

Panel members include the director general of military operations, interior secretary, director general of National Counter-Terrorism Authority, chief secretaries, inspectors general of police, home secretaries, additional secretary PMO and representatives of intelligence agencies. The committee will also be assisted by a representative from each intelligence agency while the military will be represented by the DG military operations.

Defence analyst Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi told The Express Tribune that the success of the body hinged on the federal government’s will.

“Given that top federal, provincial bureaucrats and military men are part of the committee, it can be said that NAP’s implementation would be easy. But not to forget that at the end of the day, it is the executive that has to enforce the plan.



However, he said, the implementation task does not seem difficult since all stakeholders are on board.

In the aftermath of this month’s deadly blast on a Quetta hospital, the government had approved a plan for setting up of 29 wings of the Frontier Corps and constituted the body that would oversee NAP’s implementation.

On August 11, the PM announced formation of a task force under the NAP mainly to improve coordination between federal and provincial law-enforcement agencies. The force would work under the broader purview of the NAP Implementation Committee which will oversee overall progress on all the 20 points of NAP, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Last week, a senior government official, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the panel would also be mandated to take measures to stop terror financing. “To this effect, the panel will coordinate with banks that will provide necessary assistance under the supervision of the State Bank of Pakistan,” he said.

According to an official statement, the implementation committee will ‘take stock of the situation, monitor progress, take into account all impediments and chalk out a way forward’.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd,  2016.