Vacant office of IPC minister causing delay in providing legal cover to NACTA

The vacant office of the minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) is causing delay in providing statutory cover to the high-profile National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which was set up by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani with much fanfare in 2009 through an executive order.
Sources in the Interior Ministry told Pakistan Today on Saturday that following the submission of a report by the ministry, the federal cabinet in a meeting on February 17, 2011 had constituted a Cabinet Committee to revisit the proposed legislation on NACTA. The committee consisted of the ministers for Interior, Inter-Provincial Coordination, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and State and Frontier Regions.
Sources said the Cabinet Committee’s meeting was scheduled for July 2 but was postponed, and that it could not be convened until the position of the IPC minister was filled. They said the Interior Ministry had prepared a draft of the NACTA bill-2011, which would be sent to the Cabinet meeting for approval after review from the Cabinet Committee.
Sources said the vacant position at IPC had left NACTA dormant and the government was yet to give it a statutory cover through getting the NACTA bill passed by the parliament. Reportedly, the government has not been able to decide if the authority should have an independent/autonomous status or as a subordinate organisation of the Interior Ministry. Currently, the authority is placed under the prime minister’s chairmanship.
In a cabinet meeting held in February this year, then-IPC minister Raza Rabbani had blocked the bill’s passage from the cabinet. He opposed the draft because it had given NACTA’s financial control to the Interior Ministry while the authority was under the prime minister’s control. Rabbani said the move would make NACTA a subsidiary of the Interior Ministry, which could exploit its financial dependence. Since Rabbani’s resignation from the IPC in May, the minister’s office is vacant. Under a fresh draft bill, the national coordinator will prepare the annual budget estimates of the authority and submit it to the board for federal government’s approval. According to the draft, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, NACTA will receive and collate intelligence and will coordinate with relevant stakeholders to formulate threat assessment with periodic reviews, which would be presented to the federal government to quell terrorism.
The draft says the prime minister would chair the NACTA’s board of governors (BoG) with the interior minister as vice chairman. The other members of the authority include chief ministers of the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the directors-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the ministers of Finance and Defence, one senator from FATA, one MNA, Interior Ministry’s secretary, national coordinator, six inspectors-general of Police (from four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK) or deputy inspectors-general of the Crime Investigation Departments of the respective regions plus one other person on special invitation. The national coordinator shall also act as the board’s secretary. The authority’s headquarter shall be in Islamabad.
Furthermore, the authority will be in charge of preparing national counter terrorism and counter extremism strategies and their periodic reviews. It will also develop action plans against terrorism and extremism and will report to the federal government for their implementation.
In addition, NACTA will conduct research on topics relevant to terrorism and extremism, prepare and circulate documents, and liaise with international entities to enhance cooperation against terrorism and extremism.
An executive committee of NAFTA’s board of governors will be composed of the minister of the administrative division concerned, its secretary and the national coordinator. In emergency cases, the committee shall exercise all the powers of the BoG, which will review its decisions in the next meeting.
According to the procedures of BoG meeting, at least half of the members shall be required to hold a meeting. If the BoG chairman is absent, the vice chairman shall preside over the meeting and the secretary of the administrative division shall be NACTA’s principal accounting officer and could perform other functions delegated by the board.
All NACTA employees including those on deputation shall receive an amount twice their basic salary as a special allowance without affecting corresponding allowances. A NACTA Research and Development Fund will be established to control funds received from the federal government and International bodies. The authority will have to compile and submit an annual report on its activities and accounts to the BoG through the federal government. In addition the authority’s officers and consultants will be immune from prosecution or lawsuits for doing anything in “good faith” while carrying out the authority’s rules.
Pakistan still lacks an effective counter-terrorism policy to handle a problem which has left over 30,000 civilians and 5,000 security personnel dead. The Anti-Terrorism Amendment Bill 2010 and National Counter Terrorism Authority Bill, 2011 are yet to be approved by the parliament.