Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi chairs a meeting at NACTA Headquarters in Islamabad
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday vowed to restructure the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) on modern lines to fulfill its responsibility of being the frontline in the war against terrorism.
According to a statement, NACTA National Coordinator Rai Tahir briefed the minister on the functioning of the authority, with Naqvi stressing on the need to fully implement the National Action Plan (NAP). In this regard, he convened a meeting of the coordination committee next week.
On Dec. 24, 2014, after the deadly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Parliament approved a 20-point NAP, devised by NACTA, to counter terrorism and extremism. “The federal government will implement the National Action Plan at any cost to counter terrorism,” said Naqvi. “It is more important for us to take preemptive measures to eliminate terrorists and their facilitators instead of taking action after every incident of terrorism,” he added.
During the meeting, the minister also sought a detailed report on the capacity of all provincial counterterrorism departments and emphasized the need for practical steps to tackle terrorism. He vowed to formulate a comprehensive strategy to uproot terrorism and extremism, adding the state would not pardon or forgive any terrorist outfits. He also called for promoting a national narrative against “extremist ideologies of terrorists.”
The NACTA meeting, and the decision to fully implement NAP, followed a surge of terrorism across Pakistan, including an attack on a security checkpoint in Mir Ali that led to the martyrdom of seven soldiers of the Pakistan Army.