Implementation blues: NAP exposes chinks in ruling party’s armour
Monitoring of key points and fund allocation are a bone of contention between interior ministry and other govt organs
Chaudhry Nisar. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Cracks within the ranks of the ruling PML-N have not only started posing a new challenge to the Nawaz administration but have also marred implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), unanimously adopted by the national leadership in the wake of the December 16 terror attack on a school in Peshawar.
According to sources, at least two federal ministers, who are key to implementing the counterterrorism policy, are not on speaking terms while there are also signs of growing distance between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
For the last few weeks, the interior minister has remained absent from key meetings, particularly those on the Karachi operation, and it is learnt that he was not invited to these important huddles. An official said the PM wants to continue the Karachi operation with full force but Nisar also wants to take its credit.
The interior minister has also been ignored during the Senate elections and the subsequent election of chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house.
An official in the interior ministry said monitoring of the key points incorporated in the NAP – including madrassa reforms – and allocation of funds for the counterterrorism policy are a bone of contention between the interior ministry and other government organs.
The interior ministry puts emphasis on its role as a ‘captain’ in the implementation of the NAP and is not ready to delegate its powers to other ministries, he said.
During his last days in office, the former interior minister Rehman Malik had given approval to a pending legislation on National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and had handed over control of the body to the Prime Minister Office.
However, after assuming charge of interior ministry, Nisar introduced a few amendments to the draft and brought back the administrative control of the body under his ministry. Under the new draft Nacta was only to keep posted the PM office on operational side.
Meanwhile, the idea to establish a joint intelligence directorate within Nacta – a body more visible on paper – has also not come to fruition.
Other hurdles on the way
A senior official had earlier told The Express Tribune that federal authorities have watered down their counter-terrorism strategy after quietly excluding from the implementation process three key points in the NAP. These points include action against proscribed outfits, reform of religious seminaries and the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
Experts cite absence of any practical mechanism as the reason behind this failure. An expert, who was also a part of government’s experts’ group, said the provinces had failed to devise any practical procedure to achieve these goals.
Lt Gen (retd) Talat Masood, a security and political analyst, believes that such differences within government can hamper the important national cause, adding that it is not wise to create a vacuum for others.
“Due to such indecisiveness, military is apparently on the forefront in almost every affair. The focus is key thing for success but our leaders have outsourced this important war,” he added.
Difference on media coverage
Recently, the PM office conveyed to the Press Information Department that the PM has to get preference over all ministers in matter of media coverage. An official said Nisar was perturbed over information ministry giving preference to the instructions of the officials at PM office.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2015.
Cracks within the ranks of the ruling PML-N have not only started posing a new challenge to the Nawaz administration but have also marred implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), unanimously adopted by the national leadership in the wake of the December 16 terror attack on a school in Peshawar.
According to sources, at least two federal ministers, who are key to implementing the counterterrorism policy, are not on speaking terms while there are also signs of growing distance between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
For the last few weeks, the interior minister has remained absent from key meetings, particularly those on the Karachi operation, and it is learnt that he was not invited to these important huddles. An official said the PM wants to continue the Karachi operation with full force but Nisar also wants to take its credit.
The interior minister has also been ignored during the Senate elections and the subsequent election of chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house.
An official in the interior ministry said monitoring of the key points incorporated in the NAP – including madrassa reforms – and allocation of funds for the counterterrorism policy are a bone of contention between the interior ministry and other government organs.
The interior ministry puts emphasis on its role as a ‘captain’ in the implementation of the NAP and is not ready to delegate its powers to other ministries, he said.
During his last days in office, the former interior minister Rehman Malik had given approval to a pending legislation on National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and had handed over control of the body to the Prime Minister Office.
However, after assuming charge of interior ministry, Nisar introduced a few amendments to the draft and brought back the administrative control of the body under his ministry. Under the new draft Nacta was only to keep posted the PM office on operational side.
Meanwhile, the idea to establish a joint intelligence directorate within Nacta – a body more visible on paper – has also not come to fruition.
Other hurdles on the way
A senior official had earlier told The Express Tribune that federal authorities have watered down their counter-terrorism strategy after quietly excluding from the implementation process three key points in the NAP. These points include action against proscribed outfits, reform of religious seminaries and the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
Experts cite absence of any practical mechanism as the reason behind this failure. An expert, who was also a part of government’s experts’ group, said the provinces had failed to devise any practical procedure to achieve these goals.
Lt Gen (retd) Talat Masood, a security and political analyst, believes that such differences within government can hamper the important national cause, adding that it is not wise to create a vacuum for others.
“Due to such indecisiveness, military is apparently on the forefront in almost every affair. The focus is key thing for success but our leaders have outsourced this important war,” he added.
Difference on media coverage
Recently, the PM office conveyed to the Press Information Department that the PM has to get preference over all ministers in matter of media coverage. An official said Nisar was perturbed over information ministry giving preference to the instructions of the officials at PM office.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2015.