ONE should not be surprised by reports of alleged corruption in the National Counter-Terrorism Authority. Though Nacta is still struggling to become an authority on counterterrorism, it has already started to tread along bureaucratic lines on the domain of other government departments with less focus on its original objective and more on departmental politics and corruption.

It is not for the first time that alleged reports of embezzlement in Nacta are appearing in the media; hundreds of candidates, aiming to become experts on counterterrorism in the organisation, have been caught in the past solving papers through internet browsing on mobile phones.

Ironically, the authority is not serious about its real job of data and information processing and intelligence sharing; in fact, it appears reluctant to take up the job, although it wants to work on counter radicalism measures, which it supposes is an easy task.

This is not only the story of Nacta; other state institutions responsible for internal security are also struggling to evolve and implement proper counterterrorism responses.

The current state of security in the country cannot be regarded as satisfactory by any account as there is no let up in incidents of violence. In November, a total of 115 terrorist attacks were reported across Pakistan, which claimed the lives of 114 people (despite posting a decrease of about 16pc compared to the previous month) and injured 221 others.

Overall, 189 incidents of violence of different types were reported across Pakistan during the month. These included terrorist strikes, ethno-political assaults, operational attacks by security forces and their clashes with militants and criminals, inter-militant and inter-tribal hostilities, cross-border aggression, and attacks by criminal gangs as well as drone strikes which claimed the lives of 232 people and injured 368 others.

The Pak Institute for Peace Studies’ monthly security reports for Pakistan reveal more or less similar trends of insecurity and violence every month.

Apart from the Taliban-led militancy and the government’s inept responses, sectarian violence is another challenge for the government. During Ashura processions in Muharram, violent sectarian incidents occurred throughout the country leading to several killings and fatal injuries.

The situation in Rawalpindi was more gruesome and showed the risks of mobs getting involved in sectarian clashes. Nonetheless the law-enforcement apparatus once again proved incapable of handling such critical situations. Indeed, the matrix of security threats is far wider than the government supposes in its counter-militancy approach.

The situation in Balochistan is also getting more worrisome with the passage of time albeit a Baloch nationalist party currently rules the province. Analysts have time and again said that the Balochistan issue needs national attention including that of the army and federal government and that the provincial government alone cannot perform miracles.

Meanwhile, confused and incoherent responses by the political parties to the death of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan head Hakeemullah Mehsud revealed the absence of will of the political leadership, including the government, to deal with the threat of militancy emanating mainly from the TTP and its associated groups.

Ironically and quite in contrast to the government’s stance, the militants have time and again ruled out the possibility of talks with the government. Particularly after the death of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the TTP spokesman said talks were just a trap for the Taliban and that they wanted the government to first meet their three conditions: stop the drone strikes; withdraw the army from the tribal areas; and release all detained militants.

That implies that the militants are quite clear in what they want but the government is still confused on how to proceed when it comes to countering the threat.

The fact that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federal governments have failed so far to formulate and announce a security or counterterrorism policy does not bode well for areas where the terrorism threat is most pronounced. Instead of working on internal security measures, the KP government is more focused on drones and raising anti-US slogans, which further confuses the counterterrorism approach of the provincial and federal governments.

There are still slim chances that the government will succeed in engaging the Taliban in dialogue but a total reliance on this aspect of government policy for achieving peace and security in the country will not help in the medium to long term.

The current trends of insecurity and violence show that sectarian-related targeted killings will continue in Karachi as will attacks by the Taliban in the coming weeks. The government’s overall security policy will also impact its actions in Karachi that will determine the direction of the sectarian and militant violence.

Security indicators across Pakistan are not good, except in Punjab where five low-intensity attacks were reported in November. This situation cannot be conceived of as normal in Punjab as the surveillance level is high across the province. This does not help to reduce the sense of insecurity among the people.

The country has not faced a high-intensity terrorist attack over the past few weeks. If the government depicts this as a success and becomes lax where the formulation of a security policy is concerned, it would be a mistake — one that was committed by previous governments as well. The fewer number of attacks cannot be construed as an indicator of improved security.

It has been witnessed in the past that when the number of attacks decreased, security authorities became complacent and the focus on terrorism, security and extremism lost its attraction in public and media debates. The departments, which are dedicated to eradicating terrorism, including Nacta, also lost focus.

This is directly related to the threat perception of counterterrorism bodies, and the political leadership and both parties have to broaden their vision to get the complete picture. If terrorist attacks spike in the coming days and weeks, there will be no excuse for the leadership’s lethargy. It will have to learn from the previous government’s mistakes.

The writer is a security analyst.