Three major political parties have welcomed the announcement of a meeting of heads of political parties by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on July 12 to devise a national strategy on curbing militancy and improving law and order in the country.
Asad Umar, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, welcomed the official statement of convening the meeting to devise a national strategy on counterterrorism.
However, the PTI leader said rather than inviting all heads of political parties represented in parliament, the government should have convened a meeting chaired by the prime minister and attended by chief ministers of the provinces facing terrorism while the top brass of army should also have been invited.
“We should have invited the real stakeholders to the meeting as the political leadership has already expressed its views and parliament has passed two resolutions authorising the government to hold talks with the militants,” he said.
Umar said his party wanted prompt action by the government in this regard and not a single day should be wasted.
“We will welcome any meaningful meeting to be held even tomorrow as the people and security forces are feeling the brunt of terrorism. So the matter should be immediately resolved,” he added.
He said his party would fully back the federal government’s initiative to devise a national counterterrorism strategy and it would also support the talk process with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or any other group.
JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman also welcomed Nawaz’s initiative for taking the political leadership on board.
In a statement, Fazl said a clear vision was needed with practical steps, adding that a national committee should be formed bringing the heads of the armed forces and other law enforcers at one table.
He urged talks and institutional efforts as part of a grand anti-terrorism strategy.
“We need to seriously make meaningful talks. But where we need institutional response… we cannot afford to delay our response anymore,” he said, adding that the Taliban and the Baloch insurgents needed to be engaged in talks as well.
The JUI-F chief, however, warned that “no effort by the government, no body, no measure and no talks can succeed without the support of the state’s other establishments including the army, agencies and the bureaucracy”.
Fazl said since Pakistan was under a terror threat, it would be a good idea if the prime minister was made the head of the committee and he chaired all meetings of the proposed national body at least for a specific time.
“Then the interior minister may share responsibility of heading such a body. The second challenge is improving the criminal justice system. No national body can eliminate terrorism if we cannot prosecute the criminals and terrorists,” he added.
He also said the Supreme Court had asked the former government to launch a witness protection programme. “This is a challenge we need to simultaneously tackle as we contemplate other measures,” Fazl added.
Awami National Party (ANP) senior vice president Haji Adeel said it was a good step taken by the prime minister.
He said a national policy on terrorism was the need of the hour and the ANP would attend it as the PML-N had attended an all parties conference (APC) convened by his party.
He said the ANP would present its viewpoint on issue of terrorism and it would also forward its recommendations to counter the menace of terror.
“All political parties should sit together to chalk out a joint strategy. It is responsibility of the government to take all stakeholders on board. The government should restore confidence of people to win their support that it is mandatory,” he urged.