High-level huddle: Provinces to be woven into security fabric

Security issues to be discussed with all chief ministers.

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD:

The government is planning to weave all four provinces into a sweeping security strategy it is crafting through a series of initiatives within the next few days, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced on Thursday.

For the purpose, an exhaustive consultative session on security will be held with all provincial chief ministers, senior officials and members of parliament, the minister said.

According to Chaudhry Nisar, the upcoming meeting will be attended by elected representatives of the National Assembly and the Senate. Delegates will look at ways to improve coordination between the provinces as they pore over the question of law and order.

Sharing the details of Thursday’s meeting on security issues held at the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor House, Chaudhry Nisar said that the discussion focused on “internal security measures” and the “integrity of the country”.

The minister also said that the federal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government are moving in the same direction to tackle law and order and security issues.



The minister added that the government had drafted a comprehensive National Security Policy within six months. He said a clause would be added in the policy to take provincial governments on board to have better intelligence sharing between the police and other law enforcement agencies, as before the drafting of this policy, there was no coordination between the 26 intelligence agencies of the country.

A joint directorate of all intelligence agencies will also be created.

Ceaseless efforts for peace

Nisar said the government and Taliban peace committees are making continuous efforts and contacts to resume talks. He added, however, that the dialogue process cannot proceed amid continued violence and that “another route” would be taken if it did not succeed.

“If they [Taliban] want to carry on the negotiations process for peace, they must shun the path of violence and bloodshed,” Nisar told a news briefing at the Governor House.

To a question about the Taliban’s claim that security forces had killed members of the faction, Nisar said that such reports were based on fiction and were part of a negative propaganda against security forces.

Waziristan retaliatory raids ‘successful’: Sartaj

In Islamabad, Sartaj Aziz, the adviser to the prime Minister on national security and foreign affairs, said that the recent targeted airstrikes against militants in Waziristan have been “effective” and “successful”.

Aziz explained that the government’s own attempts to find a non-violent solution to militancy were not reciprocated by the TTP. “We did not get a positive response from the TTP’s side in the dialogue process.”

Over 100 militants, including foreign fighters, have been killed in several rounds of airstrikes targeting militant hideouts in the tribal areas since February 19.

Speaking about the National Security Policy, he said the details of the policy shared by Chaudhry Nisar in parliament on Wednesday did not cover its entire scope. “Let me clarify that the policy points discussed in parliament were about the internal security policy,” he said. “The internal security policy is one part of the National Security Policy, which is much larger and wider.”

The National Security Policy is still evolving and will integrate the foreign and defence policies, Aziz explained. He said the country’s defence policy will also be announced soon.

Security gear for Peshawar

Accompanied by Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, K-P Governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan, IGP K-P Nasir Khan Durrani, Chief Secretary Shahzad Arbab, and other high-ranking officials, the interior minister said that the government has decided to import more than 65 vehicles, with a capacity to detect Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) and bombs, from China. He added that about four vehicles will arrive in a few days; while 50 more will gradually be imported.

He said the around 500 to 2,000 forces would be recruited in the Rapid Response Force, which will be equipped with the latest technology along with other defense and protective gadgets.

“Unless we do not equip law enforcement agencies with the latest technology and modern warfare instruments, we cannot come to a better position on the defense front,” Nisar maintained.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2014.