Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The political and military leadership on Wednesday decided to give more powers to the provincial apex committees to root out terrorists.

An important meeting was held, with Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif in the chair, to review the pace of implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP). Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, ISI DG Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The meeting also reached an agreement that a meeting of all four provincial chief ministers would be called soon to make provincial apex committees stronger and to give them more resources.

It was decided in the meeting that security institutions would further be strengthened by giving them more authority, after which the security forces would be able to carry out raids anywhere in the country without prior permission.

Addressing the participants, Nawaz Sharif said that complete eradication of terrorists would be ensured and Pakistan’s war would continue until the last terrorist was eliminated. The PM directed all the departments concerned to ensure better coordination among them.

He said that terrorists had attacked innocent citizens once again and tried to play havoc with the law and order of the country.

“The security forces have cleared Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of terrorists, but a handful of the surviving ones are in search of safe havens. We have to finish them by dragging them out of their dens.”

He said that the government would not allow anyone to play with the lives of innocent people. “No doubt the enemy wants to disturb the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project,” he said, adding that the project was a ray of hope for brighter Pakistan.

He asked the security institutions to ensure elimination of terrorists with full power, saying that the government would provide best available resources for the purpose.

The meeting also decided to fully execute the NAP and to make legislation for introducing stern anti-terrorism laws. The participants of the meeting also agreed to initiate combing operations across the country.

The meeting also reviewed the internal and external security situation following the Quetta suicide bombing. It also mulled over the evidence found during the course of investigation, which indicated at foreign involvement in the attack.

Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif was not present in an important meeting that was held on Wednesday to review the implementation on National Action Plan (NAP) under supervision of PM Nawaz Sharif. Sources have disclosed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif intentionally didn’t call Khawaja Asif in a meeting so that he would not meet with Federal Minister for interior Ch. Nisar Ali Khan. This was allegedly all designed to please Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan.

However, the rest of the country’s top leadership, including Federal Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Ishaq Dar, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, National Security Adviser Nasir Janjua, Secretary Foreign Affairs Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and other senior officials attended the meeting. The absence of Federal Minister for Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif in this important meeting held in connection with implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) has left many questions unanswered.

Sources have further revealed that Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf will sooner or later himself take over the portfolio of Ministry of Defence as Khawaja Muhammad Asif would only take care of the matters of Ministry of Water and Power that he was presently doing.

Khawaja Muhammad Asif had taken the charge of Ministry of Defence when cases of missing persons were under trial in the Supreme Court. It was impossible for the prime minister to appear before court each time in the above mentioned cases, which was why the Defence Ministry charge handed over to Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

Presently the country was facing a number of challenges and combating terrorism was the mother of all problems, but despite these facts the rift between Federal Minister Interior Ch. Nisar Ali Khan and Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif was the centre of attention.