Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday called for revisiting the role of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) to make it a truly proactive organisation, in sync with ground realities

Chairing the first-ever meeting of the board of governors here at the Prime Minister’s Office, Khan constituted a committee for reviewing the role and functions of the organisation and called for formulation of a well-defined mandate.

The meeting was attended by Ministers for Defence, Finance, Law, Chief Ministers of four provinces and Gilgit Baltistan, and the Prime Minister of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister of State for Interior, the Secretary for Interior, the National Coordinator of Nacta, and the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence.

As the meeting started, the Nacta national coordinator briefed the gathering about the mandate and the role of the organisation since its establishment. He said it was meant to be a body for policy formulation and implementation of national terrorism and counter violent extremism strategy. The meeting also reviewed progress on implementation of the 20-points National Action Plan.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan has come a long way in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism. He said in this struggle Pakistan has sacrificed lives of thousands of civilians and security personnel. Lauding the services and contributions of security, intelligence and law enforcemnet agencies, the Prime Minister said improved security situation was the result of combined efforts of all stakeholders.

Khan deplored that not even a single meeting of the board of governors of the Nacta could be convened since its inception, and said this negligence by the previous government led to a lack of focus on improving the performance of the organisation.

Published in Daily Times, September 26^th 2018.