THE National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), instituted in 2013, is the only federal institution formulated through parliamentary consensus to fight the menace of terrorism. Despite the initial intent, the organisation has been caught up in its own battle for survival, keeping it away from becoming a fully functional, independent and effective body.

When Pakistan faced the initial brunt of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it was Nacta that had a dedicated unit dealing with financial terrorism, and took the lead by establishing a national task force on combating the menace.

While other entities, like the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), received accolades for the country’s progress on the FATF front, Nacta remained under the shadows owing to lack of political support.

Nacta also made headlines when it formulated a detailed policy about countering violent extremism. The policy had input from all the relevant stakeholders, including the civil society. However, due to lack of political support and will, such a significant endeavour also got pushed to the back burner.

Presently, Nacta is fighting a war of survival; its own survival. Budgetary cuts and absence of service structure made this potentially viable organisation vulnerable with no departmental cadre and permanent head. It is crowded with officials on deputation from other departments.

As per the last report available on the relevant website, out of 841 sanctioned posts at Nacta, 648 are vacant. While the country is seeing an unprecedented surge in terrorism, the government time and again pledges to revisit and strengthen the National Action Plan (NAP), but there is a need to revisit the progress and strengthen Nacta first.

Zareen Tariq Bangash
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2022