Implementing NAP my top priority: Iqbal

Calls meeting of chief ministers today

ISLAMABAD: Unveiling priorities of his new office for the remaining part of the five-year tenure of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said “implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) is my top priority”.

“The Ministry of Interior will continue the policies of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan,” said Iqbal during his maiden press conference as interior minister.

“There are a number of new priorities,” he said while giving a veiled reference that “these things were missing in the policies of his predecessor”.

Giving details, he said a meeting of the provincial chief ministers had been called on Wednesday (today) for implementation of the NAP.

“The coordination for implementation of the NAP needs to be improved as the institution — NACTA — established for the purpose could not play its due role effectively so far,” he said, adding that he had held his first meeting in the NACTA office so that the coordination between security and intelligence institutions could also be improved.

Terming the registration of new political parties as the mandate of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), he hoped that the commission would properly look into the application of Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD), an organisation under the watch list of the ministry, to get registered as a new political party.



About US President Donald Trump’s criticism on Pakistan in his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief, the minister said that Pakistan had paid the price for the war against terrorism more than any other country.

“Pakistan’s commitment to eradicate terrorism is not for the US, but for its own sake for a better future,” he said.

Replying to another question regarding the alleged policy of Pakistan about the good and bad Taliban, Ahsan said there was no issue of good or bad Taliban, but the issue was of Pakistan’s fight for supremacy of the Constitution as well as democracy.

The other priority of the interior ministry, he said, would be the formation of counter narrative on extremism as the ongoing operations against terrorists were only a punitive treatment of the problem.

“We have to give an alternate narrative because the new terrorist groups are not emerging from among the madrassa students, but from among the students of universities,” he said, adding that the youth could be lured towards extremism through social media, which had to be stopped.

He said he would soon invite religious leaders to form an effective policy on this front.



Iqbal said the immigration staff at all airports had been instructed to behave with the passengers in a pleasant way, and queues should be followed for immigration clearance with the policy of zero protocol to any VIP.

“The other priority of the ministry is to expand the network of offices of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and passports,” he said. “The authority has been asked to improve its capabilities.”

NADRA has been asked to help in bringing online the offices of all departments under the ministry, he said, adding that the online service of departments, including the passport office, would be improved to avoid queues.

The minister said the Islamabad police had been given targets. In the first stage, seven model police stations would be established till March next year. “We will introduce community and smart policing system in the federal capital that will be a role model for other provinces,” he added.

He the police had been directed to form peace committees at the local level to enforce community policing. Well-educated and female police officers would be given priority for the posts of moharrars and at service centres, he said, adding that the system of traffic would also be improved, and residents of the capital would be given one month’s time to install original number plates on their vehicles after which action would be taken.

Iqbal said the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been asked to eradicate corruption within the agency and point out the black sheep.

“We have decided to re-act



ivate the civil defence department. And ICT Administration has been directed to complete the computerisation of land record within six months. The departments of education and health working under the ICT would be converted into professional authorities,” he said.

The minister said that civil armed forces (CAFs), 200,000 in strength, working under the administrative control of the ministry would be modernised and CAF Force Act would be introduced to abolish different laws for CAFs.