National Action Plan: bigger responsibilities lie ahead.

Byline: Senator (R) Sehar Kamran

'Good governance, division of responsibilities and an effective communication mechanism between state institutions are key to the success of the NAP'.

Pakistan has been a victim of the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism for more than one and a half decade now. The country has suffered heavy losses, both physically, and economically, in its fight to eliminate this menace. Despite being faced by a plethora of challenges including limited resources, Pakistan has made great headway in its bid to root out terrorism and extremism from its soil. It is the only country in the world, which has successfully executed military counterterrorism operations inside its boundaries and brought normalcy back to the affected areas, in such a short period.

In spite of these achievements, much is still required to be done. The recent terrorist incidents are a reminder that the fight against the faceless enemy is far from over, and only by investing on the people, especially in the domain of education and health, can real progress be achieved.

The nation can never forget the horrific tragedy of the Army Public School in Peshawar, which resulted in the martyrdom of 133 school children, in 2014. Unambiguously, this terrorist attack strengthened the entire nation's resolve to stand united and undeterred against such recreant brutality. Following this incident, political and institutional differences were shunned for the common goal of rooting out terrorism from the country. Thus a '20 Point Action Plan' was put in force which the Parliament adopted as the 'National Action Plan' (NAP). It symbolised the national consensus to achieve this goal.

December 2019 will mark five years since its initiation. It is significant that a critical appraisal of this much-hyped plan is done promptly to identify the shortcomings and achieving better results. Furthermore, it will help evaluate the new dimensions that have since been added to the NAP.

Unfortunately, no follow-up mechanism for determining transparency as well as its pace has been implemented to monitor its progress.

Out of the 20 core points, the most significant one which has also been raised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), is regarding the containment of the finances of terrorist networks by cracking down on their funding chains. The FATF is of the view that it needs to be revisited in the light of 'strategic deficiencies'. The country is also in danger of being...