ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has constituted 21 committees to devise a roadmap for the implementation of the National Action Plan forged by the country’s national political leadership against terrorism and set them a 72-hour deadline to complete their respective tasks.
Sources here say that chairing a high-level consultative meeting at the Prime Minister’s House to take the government’s new anti-terror strategy forward, the premier set up a committee for each of the plan’s 20 points, sources privy to the developments told The Express Tribune. Each panel is to be headed by the concerned federal minister or bureaucrat, they said.
“All the committees have been given three days to submit their recommendations on implementing their respective points of the National Action Plan,” a government official said.
In addition to the 20 committees for each point of the plan, sources said Sharif constituted one oversight committee headed by himself and comprising his special assistant Barrister Zafarullah Khan, Interior Minister Nisar Ali, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Qadir Baloch, and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz.
The function of this committee would be to ensure the “expeditious and effective implementation of the National Action Plan to wipe out terrorism and extremism from the country.” It would not only monitor the performance of the 20 other committees, but also contact other stakeholders to devise a mechanism for implementing the plan as well. Khan will serve as the secretary of this committee, the sources added.
While addressing the meeting, Sharif vowed he would oversee the enforcement of the National Action Plan himself. “I am giving all members of my team days, not weeks, to gear up for this war against terrorists,” he said.
Sharif directed Attorney General of Pakistan Salman Aslam to immediately consult politicians from leading political parties to finalise necessary constitutional amendments to set up military courts in the country, an official statement said.
The representatives of the law minister also made a commitment to the premier that the committee made up of constitutional experts from political parties will finalise its draft by Monday evening.
The committee, which comprises Aslam, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Hamid Khan, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Aitzaz Ahsan, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Farogh Naseem, Khan and Zaheer Ahmed, will then hand over the draft to Sharif.
In addition to working out the necessary constitutional reforms for military courts, the law ministry has also been tasked with proposing laws to counter all aspects of terrorism and extremism, including coverage by media and propagation of hate material.
“Laws will be made stringent to stop printing and publication of hate material promoting sectarianism,” Sharif said. “Legislation to stop the glorification of terrorists on all forms of media will be prepared immediately.” About media regulations how to tackle terrorism, Sharif said that legislation to stop glorification of terrorists on all forms of media may be prepared immediately.
Sharif tasked the Federal Investigation Agency with preparing a roadmap to throttle the finances of terrorist organisations. He assigned the task of monitoring FIA’s operations towards this end to the finance ministry and State Bank of Pakistan.
Sharif also directed the ‘immediate deployment’ of the proposed Federal Counter-Terrorism Force. He said the federal government would fulfil the operational requirements of this force while the defence ministry would provide the necessary technical support.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, meanwhile, was asked to present a plan to register illegal Afghan residents in Pakistan.
Internews
