PM orders updating of NAP to make it more effective

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday directed for updating the National Action Plan (NAP) of 2014 in order to make it more effective to cater to the needs of present-day challenges, especially espionage, subversion and cyber security.

The prime minister chaired a high-level meeting, where the country’s top civil and military leadership reviewed the overall law and order situation and implementation status of NAP 2014 that was formulated to ensure security in the length and breadth of the country.

The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Law Minister Farogh Naseem, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Faiz Hamid, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) MajGen Nauman Zakria, DG Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar besides senior civil and military officials.

While reviewing the law and order situation in the country, “especially, in tri-border areas of Punjab and Balochistan”, the prime minister directed for the establishment of an Inter-Provincial Border Committee to address boundary issues using the Survey of Pakistan 2021, officials said.

It was also decided that civil and police administration in the area would be strengthened further to improve the security situation in these areas.

The meeting approved, in principle, a five-year socio-economic development plan for the less-developed areas of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur to bring them at par with other parts of the province, especially, in the area of infrastructure development, provision of water, health and education.

While reviewing the NAP implementation, it had been decided that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Cyber Crime Wing would be reorganised to make it more effective, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid told The Express Tribune.

Dilating on the reasons behind establishing the border committee, the interior minister said that the committee was formed as there were several boundary-related issues that needed to be resolved.

“Even the boundary of Islamabad and Rawalpindi has not yet been decided,” the minister added.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that cyber terrorism was the main focus of the meeting as there had been several incidents, where people from abroad, especially India, ran campaigns on social media in Pakistan.

“TLP’s whole campaign was run from India,” Chaudhry said, referring to a recent country-wide protest by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. “They [foreign elements] have to be stopped,” the government’s spokesperson added.

However, the minister stressed that currently, the Cyber Wing of the FIA was more “bureaucratic” therefore it needed to be made “smart” by inducting young people, who were more tech-savvy and had a better understanding of cybercrimes. Chaudhry also stressed the need for curbing hate speech and stopping the spread of disrespectful material through social media, especially in the month of Muharram.

He added that narration-building was crucial to eliminate extremism. The government will focus on it in the coming days.”

The information minister said the threat of a new phase of terrorist activities in Pakistan because of the Afghan endgame was also discussed in the meeting. He said that the border control, as well as Afghan government’s inadequate role about border issues, was discussed.

Responding to a question about the implementation of NAP, Chaudhry said that several points of the plan had already been implemented but some points such as legal and madrassa reforms had not yet been implemented.

Following the discussion, the minister said, three different committees were formed; each would be headed by the interior, information and foreign minister.

NAP was formulated a week after the deadly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

“After the attack, a national consensus was evolved to come down hard on the terrorists through a concerted national effort,” he said. “Subsequently, a 20-point NAP was chalked out by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and the interior ministry in consultation with the stakeholders to counter terrorism and extremism. It was approved by parliament on December 24, 2014,” he said.

“After the National Internal Security Policy of 2014, it [NAP] was the second consensus policy document approved by the government, which spelt out the specifics for the counter-terrorism drive in the country.”

An official statement of the meeting read that the participants expressed satisfaction over the achievements made so far and decided to update the plan to make it more effective to cater to the needs of the present times.