Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Monday that the government had established a helpline to receive people’s complaints and to this effect about 250,000 calls were received which also covered complaints regarding hate speech.

Over the complaints to helpline 1717, a number of arrests have also been made and substantial hate material has been seized. Minister of State for Interior Balighur Rehman expressed these views while speaking on a motion moved by Sehar Kamran regarding status of implementation of the National Action Plan.

The minister claimed that the law and order has improved and economy was on an upward trajectory due to effective implementation of NAP. The PM monitored NAP to ensure significant progress on it which has resulted in reduction of terrorist incidents. He said the government had released Rs 1.4 billion for the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA). He said a number of recruitments had been made while numerous others were underway to provide manpower to the authority.

The minister also said counter-terrorism force had been established in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. He said 100 percent mapping of seminaries had been completed in Punjab, Sindh and federal capital while KP and Balochistan were also in the process of completion. He said Karachi operation was also launched after taking all the political forces into confidence.

Speaking on the occasion, Senator Farhatullah Babar said until the state abandons its policy of favouring militant groups that seek to target countries in the region and until it curbs hate speech the fight against militancy would remain elusive. Questioning the policy of blocking UN move to impose sanctions against the head of a banned militant outfit, he said, “Such diabolical policies raised serious questions about our intentions and policies.” He said that activists challenging state narrative on militancy and national security are silenced through a vicious hate campaign on social and electronic media. “Today hate speech flourishes while dissent with state narrative is not only silenced but also punished covertly without recourse to law,” he said adding, “This is a new and most disturbing trend.”

“The government must come out clean on the priorities it had in the fight against militancy. Are we going to fight only those militants who are targeting our citizens or are we going to fight those too whose target is across the borders?” he asked. The Senate today passed “The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) (Amendment) Bill, 2016”. The bill, moved by Nuzhat Sadiq, provides to amend the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Act, 1675. The House meets today (Tuesday) at 3pm.