Ironclad measures: Govt to sharpen tools against terrorists

PM Nawaz insists civil-military leadership on the same page on the issue of terrorism.

ISLAMABAD:

In an effort to sharpen the government’s legal tools against terrorists, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered officials on Monday to speed up the process of framing and promulgating anti-terror laws in the country.

The prime minister gave the instructions after poring over clauses of the proposed anti-terror laws during a high level meeting at the PM House.

At the same time, he also pointed out that the country’s civil and military leadership were on the same page on how to deal with the menace of terrorism. “Civil administration and military are on the same page to tackle terrorists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) and Karachi,” he said.

Monday’s meeting was attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan‚ Army Chief General Raheel Sharif‚ Chief of General Staff Lt. General Ashfaq Nadeem‚ directors general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) and interior and law secretaries.



“We will adopt a coordinated strategy to root out the menace of terrorism,” Nawaz said.

“Those who attack innocent citizens and armed forces personnel will not be spared,” he said, issuing instructions to accelerate the formulation and promulgation of anti-terror laws.

“There is no space for enemy aliens to attack innocent civilians and armed forces. They must be prosecuted with effectiveness,” Nawaz said.



Earlier the PM also had a one-on-one meeting with the COAS and the two leaders deliberated upon a range of issues including former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s recent statements, sources said.

“Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif exchanged notes with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif regarding former president Musharraf’s recent interaction with the media and counter statements from government’s side,” a person, privy to the development said on condition of anonymity.

In a recent interview, Musharraf had claimed that army was perturbed by the initiation of the treason trial against him by the federal government.

According to sources, the COAS said the treason trial against Musharraf was the government’s decision and the matter was still sub judice. But while issuing counter statements, the ministers and other government officials should exercise restraint as the honour and grace of the armed forces was at stake, sources quoted Gen Raheel as saying.

They said the prime minister assured the army chief that government and party officials would not speak against any institution particularly the military and the judiciary and that he had issued clear directives in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2013.