Nazia Nazar
On 16th December 2014, the entire nation was shocked and grieved on martyrdom of 135 people including more than 100 students and as many injured, when unidentified armed men opened fire on Army Public School in Peshawar. Pakistan was in the vortex of terrorism for more than two decades but this act of terrorism was the most harrowing, as hundreds of children had been killed and injured. It would not be an exaggeration to say that after 1971, this was another occasion when hearts of entire people bled for those martyred in a horrific and barbarian act. The armed forces of Pakistan have successfully conducted several military operations against the terrorists, which has broken the backbone of militants and uprooted them from their so-called safe havens. It was out of sheer frustration that the militants had resorted to cowardly acts like attack on innocent children in Peshawar.
After the tragic event, leaders on both sides of the divide had put their heads together to chalk out a plan of action against the terrorists. In January 2015, apex committees were formed to expedite the implementation of the National Action Plan. Fifteen committees and sub-committees were set up; however, no plausible developments were witnessed. Ironically, the inability on the part of government was covered with false projection about serious civil-military trust deficit on many issue related to NAP implementation. Some political quarters even made foul cries of threat to democracy. Unfortunately, a full-scaled activation of NACTA remains in limbo even after six years of its creation. Lack of allocation of resources for NACTA in the last annual budget, non-framing of service rules for the authority etc make NACTA a real midsummer night dream.
Interestingly, NACTA’s budget stands at Rs. 92 million a year out of which a sum of Rs.63 million goes into the salaries of the staff. What kind of an effective role will be registered by the authority and who may be blamed for such state of affairs? The administration has yet to implement many reforms suggested in the National Action Plan. The government has yet to come out with an authentic and final figure about the number of Madrassa existing in the country. In this backdrop, reforming their syllabus and controlling their finances seem to be a wishful thinking. As regards performance of judiciary, it has to be mentioned that over the past four years, 14,115 persons in terrorism-related cases were acquitted and 10,387 were granted bail, only one hundred hanged. Of course, the problem is weak prosecution and lackadaisicalness in producing witnesses.
It is too well known that ill-gotten money provides oxygen to the terrorist networks and other mafias working against the interest of the state, yet it appears that the civilian leaders lack political will to block the supply of illicit money to the terrorist networks, despite the fact that no government can defeat terrorism without plugging the illicit money to the terror networks. In all the provinces, there are some politicians and government cronies who have become ‘untouchables’ for anti-graft drive. It would be a challenge for the prime minister to allow the state institutions to bring all corrupt to book whether they belong to the ruling party or the opposition. It has to be acknowledged that some federal ministries are taking steps in the right direction, but the pace is quite slow. Interior ministry has prepared rules and regulations for INGOs and local NGOs.
Civil society is raising concerns over the slow pace of implementation and narrow scope of the Plan’s progress. Reportedly, members of NAP-Watch Pakistan, an alliance of over one hundred noted citizens and experts is likely to grill the government in their first annual report to be made public on 24 Dec 2015. Anyhow, it appears that the task remains half done as extremist organizations, their sympathizers and supporters are still finding time and opportunities to mischievously target LEAs and people of Pakistan. Ironically, after TTP, a newer and more formidable menace in shape of ISIS is raising its head in the region. The risks and the price for political sluggishness in implementation of NAP will be huge.
The nation must press the political leadership to realize the importance of fully implementing the NAP. Political leadership may be urged to become non-traditionalist in their approach in implementation of NAP. To supplement the gains of Zarb-e-Azb, there is a need to declare 2015-16 as the year of the complete implementation of NAP. Government should be persuaded to come out of slumber or end its nap on NAP. The focus should be on NAP and its implementation, as the nation had decided to move on it a year ago. It should be a stock taking time now where we are and where should we decide to go.
