Stop napping on NAP and act, SC tells govt

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The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday expressed its dissatisfaction over a report filed by the government regarding the progress in the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said that the government has failed to establish a Joint Investigation Directorate (JID) even after eight months. If the government does not want to implement NAP then the file should be shelved, he added.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Khawaja was hearing the case regarding a notice served in the registration of non-government organizations (NGOs). Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti forwarded NAP’s file to the court.

Justice Khawaja remarked over the progress, saying that the JID was supposed to be established on December 24, 2014. In an attempt to explain delay in the matter, Bhatti said that summary of the case was sent to the PM on March 18, 2015, after which some observations were noted down.

Justice Khawaja said that NAP’s purpose was to protect the state of war imposed by non-state actors and JID was part of the plan. He asked the Deputy Attorney General whether the payment of Rs 2 billion was made or not for the implementation of the plan. Bhatti said that the payment was not approved in the budget for fiscal year 2015-2016.

However, the court summoned a reply from the government regarding developments in budget approval.