ISLAMABAD: The government has made the decision to tighten its grip on terrorist organizations and limit their usage of social media.
During its meeting on Tuesday, which was chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the National Action Plan (NAP) coordination committee made the decision to implement comprehensive steps to stop banned terrorist organizations from using social media.
It was determined that the provinces would implement a comprehensive strategy to curb the use of unlawful SIMs, while the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) would work with the PTA to block the social media accounts of proscribed terrorist organizations.
At the following meeting, the top executives of all pertinent organizations—including PTA—were instructed to devise a workable mechanism.
However, given that multiple ministers have called the opposition PTI a violent organization rather than a legitimate party, many people think the decision at this time has political overtones. While there are discussions on imposing Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and banning the PTI, they claim that hardcore criminals exploited the PTI protest as a pretext to “storm Islamabad.”
They also claim that during the “violent protest,” the party used weapons against security forces and caused enormous damage to both public and private property.
Take action against terrorists
During a briefing, the NAP coordination committee meeting was told that 7,984 intelligence-based operations have killed 206 terrorists since October of this year.
The interior minister informed participants that a National Fusion Center was set up for efficient coordination and denounced the recent acts of terrorism in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In addition to strengthening the police and Frontier Constabulary, he emphasized that full cooperation will be given to enhance the professional capacities of the counter-terrorism forces in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to deal with terrorism.
The Interior Ministry’s reported terrorist killing statistics, however, seem to be on the low side.
According to data compiled by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think tank, 464 militants were killed and 66 injured in 129 operational strikes by LEAs conducted between January and November. They clarify, however, that those killed during retaliation against terrorist attacks have not been included in the data.
As many as 84 terrorists were killed in October this year alone.
According to the PIPS monthly security report for October, which was made public last month, “the increased response from security forces, which has resulted in the reported killing of 84 militants across 15 districts in all four provinces, not only indicates a proactive counterterrorism strategy but also highlights the widespread nature of militant activity.”
Improved coordination
Enhancing collaboration between the provinces and the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) was another decision made during the meeting on Tuesday.
The interior minister instructed all law enforcement agencies to provide a report on their needs to the ministry within seven days, and said that the needs of these agencies would be met first. He claimed that Nacta had started reforms and that its original function had been reinstated in order to better combat terrorism.
He emphasized that in order to enhance the state of law and order, everyone must cooperate. He stated that all provinces’ police forces should be outfitted with contemporary technologies in addition to having more capacity. The plans put in place for the safety of Chinese nationals were also reviewed at the meeting.
The minister emphasized the need to boost Pakistan Coast Guards in order to stop drug smuggling in coastal areas and called for full implementation of the foolproof security strategy.
The progress of the counterterrorism decisions was also evaluated at the conference. Khalid Khattak, the national coordinator for Nacta, provided a thorough briefing on how the choices would be implemented.
