ISLAMABAD: The civil and military leadership on Thursday decided to tighten the noose around terrorists, crush those challenging the writ of the state and speed up implementation on the National Action Plan (NAP).

These decisions were taken at a high-profile meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The army chief and heads of intelligence agencies, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor, provincial chief ministers, and the AJK PM and the Gilgit-Baltistan CM were also present.

Briefing reporters after the marathon meeting, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan – who chaired the working session that preceded the meeting led by the PM – said that action would be taken against those trying to create unrest through violence with help from religious leaders, the media and different segments of society.

Also read: Arms licences to be computerised by Dec 31

He said that all the arms licences not renewed by the end of the current year would stand cancelled and, in the future, only computerised arms licences would be issued. He said Punjab and Sindh had already computerised their arms licences and the two other provinces had been asked to follow suit.

He claimed that even though the terrorists’ backbone had been broken, they had not been completely eliminated and the war against terrorism still continued. He was optimistic that the menace of terrorism and militancy would soon be stamped out and observed that isolated incidents of terrorism – including the recent spate of attacks against mediapersons – reflected their frustration.

The interior minister claimed that progress on nearly three-fourths of NAP was termed encouraging, while in other cases, the need to build further momentum was stressed.

He said there were certain hurdles to the implementation of certain aspects of NAP, citing the example of the issue of Afghan repatriation. He said Afghan refugees could not be repatriated with dignity until the government settled matters with Kabul. He said he had opposed a proposal to document the estimated 1.5 million unregistered Afghans living in Pakistan because that would mean extending them some form of legality.

He claimed that certain high-profile militant leaders had agreed to lay down arms, but did not specify whether he was referring to Baloch militants or elements linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Nisar claimed that only Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory had worked on mapping religious seminaries so far.

He also confirmed that Sindh had expressed reservations about federal organisations encroaching upon its domain and said the PM had assured them that their reservations would be addressed.

He said the meeting had expressed its dissatisfaction over the performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), though the arrest of former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain did not come up during the meeting.

He said that cameras would be installed at mosques and imambargahs that were suspected of being involved in the dissemination of hate material. He no one would be allowed to label someone ‘an infidel’ or ‘liable to death’.

Talking about the Dr Imran Farooq murder case, the minister said that a Scotland Yard team had completed its investigations in Pakistan. Being a responsible state, Pakistan had met its international obligations and shared evidence with the team, he said, adding that UK authorities had not sought custody of any of the accused in the case so far.

Matters pertaining to domestic and international NGOs, security companies and the illegal bullet-proofing of vehicles also came under discussion. Nisar said that a new policy on NGOs was ready and would be shared with the provinces before it was launched.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2015

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