Political, military leaders to put their heads together

By
Shakeel Anjum
|
Political, military leaders to put their heads together
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Sunday that the political and military leadership will decide a national policy to tackle terrorism today (Monday) at the All Parties Conference (APC).

He said the resolution presented in the APC will be passed unanimously. Addressing a press conference here at the Interior Ministry, Chaudhry Nisar said the political and military leadership would express their viewpoints on the issues in the APC which will be chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He said after initial proceedings of the session, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Zaheerul Islam would brief the conference on issue while Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would answer the questions of political leaders attending the conference.

He said the APC would help improve the law and order situation in the country, strengthen internal security and agree on a permanent strategy on national security. He said the leaders of all political parties would participate in the APC on the government's request. He said four leaders have postponed their foreign visits on his request to attend the APC.

The minister said the conference would enable the government to come to a comprehensive and unanimous resolution on a counterterrorism strategy. He said it would not just be a conference; rather it would chalk out a plan of action for the government to follow.

He said the leadership of the political parties attending the conference would also address the conference to express their viewpoint.Ch Nisar said a unanimous declaration would be announced, giving a clear message that the country's leadership, both military and civilian, is on the same page to eradicate terrorism from the country.

It has been three days since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Karachi, the minister said, and added that the decision to approve a Rangers-led operation in the city had started to bear fruit.

"Sixty-four targeted raids have been carried out by the Rangers in the last three days which has resulted in the arrest of various extortionists and recovery of a huge quantity of arms and ammunition," Nisar said.

"The law and order situation is gradually improving day by day and ratio of target killing has decreased," he said, adding, "However, this is not a twenty-twenty match, but a nerves testing exercise. It will take months to normalise the law and order situation deteriorated since last 20 years."

He said the law enforcing agencies have arrested many suspects affiliated with different political parties but it was a good gesture from the political parties that none of the parties protested against the arrests.

The minister said the entire network involved in Bhara Kahu suicide attack at Imambargah has been busted. He said seven people have been arrested so far. He said that the Islamabad police have done an excellent job by foiling a dangerous plan and avoided carnage in Islamabad. He expressed satisfaction over the performance of the law enforcing agencies.

"This is a wrong perception that the terrorists have left for South Africa or Dubai to avoid their arrests before the Karachi operation," Nisar said.

He said National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) would be set on the method of American Homeland Security.

He said two scanners worth 125 million dollars were imported by the last government but the scanners were wasted as they didn't meet the requirement of security. He said Islamabad would be made as crime-free city.

Earlier, Chaudhry Nisar chaired a high-level meeting of officials of the Ministry of Interior and heads of its attached departments to discuss the latest security situation of the country.

In the meeting, the minister instructed to include air wing in the Rapid Response Force, upgrade their capacity for night flying and to place it under Nacta operations. He also ordered to revamp the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) and its operations.

The minister directed the DG FIA to revamp the immigration process in order to facilitate the public. To facilitate the general public while keeping strict security measures intact, the minister instructed the IG Islamabad and Traffic Police to systematically minimise the time duration of the traffic routes set in place for the on-ground movements of the VVIPs.

The IG Islamabad Police briefed the minister about the assignment of security personnel at the mosques, imambargahs and other places of worship.In the meeting chairman Nadra told that the project to automate the entry/exit points of Islamabad was underway. He stated that e-tags would be provided to the vehicle owners of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to facilitate easy movement of the citizens to and from the city. The e-tags shall be provided after thorough scrutiny.