- NAP meeting focuses on improving intelligence mechanism between Centre and provinces
A high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to review implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) on Wednesday, concluded with the consensus that there was a need to improve the intelligence mechanism between the federation and provinces.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, DG ISI Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhtar, DGMO Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, DG MI Major General Nadeem Zaki Manj, PM’s National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (r) Nasser Janjua, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and other top government and military officials attended the meeting.
During the meeting, an in-depth discussion was held regarding the implementation of the National Action Plan. The meeting concluded with the consensus that there was a need to ensure implementation of all 20 points of the NAP.
It was also discussed during the meeting that the intelligence mechanism between the federation and provinces should be strengthened to facilitate the flow of information. The meeting also discussed steps that need to be taken to improve the process.
It was decided during the meeting that Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan would apprise the parliament regarding the decisions that had been taken during the NAP meeting.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had called the high-level meeting after a deadly suicide bomb attack at the Civil Hospital Quetta, which claimed lives of 72 people and injured scores of others.
NAP IMPLEMENTATION:
A source privy to the details of the meeting told Pakistan Today that the meeting was given a detailed briefing on the implementation of the NAP.
The source said that it was noted with concern that capacity gaps have been identified in the implementation of NAP. It was decided that measures will be taken to upgrade the capacity and better interfacing between various departments of the government.
The meeting also reviewed the establishment and functioning of the Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID) for effective intelligence sharing between various intelligence agencies and between federal and provincial authorities.
The government had allocated Rs 109.42 million in the budget for 2016-17 to strengthen and reinvigorate the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA).
The military had also supported the establishment of the JID and nominated a serving brigadier and almost 50 officers for the organisation. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and provincial police intelligence outfits as well as the Special Branch have already given nominations for NACTA.
The list of military officers nominated for NACTA’s JID included officers from the Military Intelligence (MI), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and other intelligence and operational units of the military.
According to the implementation report on NAP, the law enforcement agencies have carried out 54,376 combing operations so far across the country. In these operations, the source said, around 60,420 suspects have been arrested.
The source said that around 3,019 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) were also carried out while intelligence agencies shared 1,388 reports with various government and law enforcement agencies.
The source said that these intelligence reports had helped preempt many terrorist attacks which had been planned but were never executed.
The source said that the meeting was also told that since the deadly terrorist attack made on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December, 2014, around 300 death row prisoners have been hanged so far after the government lifted a six-year moratorium on death penalty on December 17, 2014.
Those hanged included criminals sentenced to death in cases of killing of civilians as well as of personnel of law enforcement agencies, the source added.