Internews/Islamabad

When the government of Pakistan announced the National Action Plan (NAP) on counterterrorism after the December 16 Peshawar School carnage, people wanted its immediate implementation. Almost two months later, disenchantment with the sluggish pace of progress is growing.
Some of this frustration was voiced at a seminar held yesterday to review the implementation of the new plan.
Some of the speakers at the seminar, jointly organised by The Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies (CPGS) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) put forward intriguing ideas for successful execution of the plan.
Two such proposals were about government taking over the control of mosques and imposing a national security emergency.
Chairman Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights Senator Afrasiab Khattak set the tone for the discussion on the issue by asking the government to do more as he questioned how banned groups were openly operating and little had been done about hate speech.
Khattak said the problem of violent extremism was deep-rooted, therefore, required consistent policies for dealing with it. The menace, he further said, could only be defeated through the support by the entire nation.
Former defence secretary retired Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik while suggesting measures for implementation of NAP said it required governance and strong national will.
Among the other steps recommended by him was the proposal for putting all mosques under government control.
For ending external funding of mosques, he suggested, all expenditure including the sustenance of the cleric and caretaker should be borne by the government.
“Mosques are being used to pollute minds by sowing hatred for other sects,” Gen Malik said.
He expressed the hope that foreign donors could also chip in with resources if the government moves to take control of mosques.
Legal expert Ahmer Bilal said Pakistan was in a state of conflict a fact that has been stated by both civilian and military leaders on more than one occasion.
The promulgation of Article 245, he observed, was the notification of the commencement of conflict.
He contended that the special situation in the country implied that ‘Law of War’ was applicable here.
“The 21st Amendment also falls in the basket of Law of War,” he said and listed other legal provisions that could come under war legislation Article 256 (forbidding private armies); Army Act; Police Act; Section 76 PPC; Section 121 PPC and Actions in Aid of Civil Power Regulation 2011.
Soofi also supported the military courts with the proviso that those tried by them fell under the category of ‘enemy of state’; belonged to proscribed organisations; and the offence was comparable to international crimes. The rest of the cases, he believed, should be tried by the Anti-Terrorism Courts.
Soofi said he considered the military courts as war crime tribunals.
During the tenure of the military courts, he suggested, the judiciary should revitalise the regular judicial system to reduce “the appetite” for military courts.
Quaid-i-Azam University Professor Dr Nazir Hussain said NAP was followed by high pitched rhetoric, but nothing was done for its implementation.
He suggested that a national security emergency should be imposed in the country for a three month period and all international borders should be sealed, besides regulating the inter-provincial movement.
Dr Hussain also called for indiscriminate action against terrorists and “finding the enemy within”.
President The Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies Senator Sehar Kamran said: “The provisions of NAP point towards a remedy that lies ahead. However, its implementation needs strategic vision and farsightedness.
The unity achieved in the aftermath of the Peshawar massacre needs to be strengthened further by aiming for the long term, all comprehensive and sustainable solutions to the problems.”  The consensus that has emerged after December 16 tragedy was unprecedented and needed to be built upon, she said and added that there was no space for extremism and violence in Pakistan.
Major General Noel Khokhar, Director General Institute of Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis at the National Defense University, in his concluding remarks suggested an All- Parties Conference on the future of Fata.
He furthermore said the role of provincial chief ministers in the implementation of NAP was very important and people were looking towards them for implementation.

Related Story