Up to Rs10b provided for civil armed forces

ISLAMABAD: Up to Rs10 billion has been provided for the capacity building of the civil armed forces combating terrorism, the National Assembly was informed on Friday.

Briefing the National Assembly, Parliamentary Secretary for Interior Maryam Aurangzeb said that as many as 28 wings of civil armed forces were raised in accordance with the National Action Plan (NAP) at a cost of Rs30 billion.

She stated that a rapid response force was being raised for the Islamabad Capital Territory at a cost of Rs2.7 billion.

Highlighting the role of the civil armed forces fighting alongside the Army at forward positions under Zarb-e-Azb, she maintained that Sindh Rangers played an important role in restoring the writ of the state in Karachi.

The provinces, she said, are also striving to enhance the capacity of police in this regard, adding that all provinces now had counter-terrorism departments.

She also counted the registration of seminaries as an important part of the NAP.

In the first phase, she said, mapping of the seminaries was completed in the provinces while the registration process is still under way.

According to her, as many as 106 computerised national identity cards (CNICs) were declared illegal by NADRA during its recent verification drive and all of these CNICs were in possession of Afghan nationals, who were instructed to return to their country.

Later, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal told the lower house of parliament that the government was focused on completing ongoing development projects.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad said that the government is providing incentives to attract foreign investment.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2016.