Several proposals are under consideration at various levels of decision making to introduce amendments in the law in order to curb extremism and terrorism and to bring the function and operation of various religious institutions within the framework of certain stringent measures and laws in order to tighten the noose around those activists of banned organisations who later joined militant organisations.
All these proposals are revolving around new stern rules regarding the construction of new madrassas and mosques, preparation of electronic data, regulation of cyber crime/mobile communication, regulation of religious gatherings, vehicle registration, documented economy, law reforms and improving operational capability of civil/armed forces.
On the construction of new madrassas and mosques, the proposal suggests strict denial of government land for construction of new mosques/madrassas, and that such constructions should only be allowed with due government permission and only in special circumstances. New mosques should only be allowed after assessing the requirement of the locality/sect and in accordance with rules of Sharia while the management, faculty and pupils should essentially be locals and the district mosques committees should be strengthened.
The proposal suggests an immediate joint survey of all jihadist outfits and extremist elements by intelligence agencies and police to ascertain the magnitude of the problem, and that such organisations should be logged in a database accessible to all stakeholders. Foreign religious NGOs should be monitored, and the motives of their operation and sources of their funding should be determined. Every law enforcement agency of the country should work in unison to get the right results with a mechanism of cross-information flow, says the proposal.
In view of increased usage of electronic gadgetry and means of communication such as the Internet, email, etc, Cyber Crime Units (CCU) are required to be established at all provincial Criminal Investigation Departments (CIDs) for regulation, monitoring and prosecution of any violation. Immediate blockade of all unauthorized SIMs should be ensured and issuance of SIMs according to the mechanism laid down by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) should also be ensured with strict enforcement in case of any violation.
The proposal also recommended establishing a well-coordinated prosecution system with a witness protection programme. It also states that an amendment is needed in the Qanun-e-Shahadat Ordinance of 1984 to make confession before a gazetted police officer admissible in terrorism cases.
The proposal also envisaged centralised registration of vehicles with the provision of online data of all registered vehicles on the pattern of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to all law enforcement agencies.
In order to implement all these suggestions in an effective manner, the proposal emphasised capacity-building of civil armed forces fighting religious extremism and terrorism and revamping provincial CIDs with a proper command structure.