Govt to get tough with sectarian outfits now

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet which met here on Monday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to take action against the sectarian outfits and private militias across the country.
The prime minister maintained on the occasion that talks with India without the Kashmir issue on the agenda would be meaningless.
The federal cabinet gave approval for making Urdu the official language while it constituted a committee to oversee the implementation of the Supreme Court order on making Urdu the official language in government and semi-government departments.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid will be the chairman of the committee. Other members of the committee include federal ministers Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Akram Khan Durrani, SAPMs Irfan Siddiqui and Barrister Zafarullah.
The prime minister made it clear that the people of Karachi wanted peace and the government would not allow political expediency to come in the way of restoring peace and reviving traditional tranquility of the city of the Quaid-i-Azam.
“We cannot even think of taking any step back as far as the Karachi operation is concerned and those who have come to parliament with the people’s mandate should place their grievances and raise their issues on the floor.”
He lauded the role of Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman in the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
He said the government was committed to implementing the National Action Plan (NAP) in its essence to ensure that benefits of its success should reach every nook and corner of the country. He emphasised that those involved in sectarianism would be dealt with an iron hand as he reiterated that those who were disseminating hatred, inciting militancy and encouraging terrorism would not spared. He said terrorists played with the lives of the people and humanity by committing unforgivable crimes that could not be tolerated.
Earlier, the

cabinet was given a detailed presentation on the status of the NAP. Prime Minister Nawaz noted that the operation against criminal elements in Karachi was launched with the consensus of all the stakeholders and results of the operation were visible. The prime minister promised that the government will continue its efforts to provide peace and security to the people of Karachi. He said that the Operation Zarb-e-Azb and the Karachi Operation launched with the consensus of all the political parties had been progressing successfully. He said the MQM would benefit from the Karachi Operation as it was aimed at targeting the criminal elements. He said that reservations of any political party on the Karachi Operation would be addressed.
Nawaz Sharif said the situation in Karachi was fast improving and the city would become peaceful soon. He said that a large number of culprits involved in terror and criminal activities had been arrested and they would be taken to task. He directed the Ministry of Interior to prepare a strategy to de-weaponise the whole society as any democratic government could not allow armed groups to operate with impunity. He informed the cabinet that the Operation Zarb-e-Azb was achieving its objectives and for this credit went to the armed forces and civilian institutions. He added that even the international community had appreciated the successes achieved in the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
The prime minister said that the situation in Balochistan was improving day by day and, Inshallah this process will continue till the dawn of peace and prosperity from Fata to Balochistan and Karachi. He declared that the future would be better than the past.
Later, Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, while addressing a press conference, said that no terror group could now operate from Pakistan and action would be taken against the sectarianism across the country as he claimed that civil and military leaderships had ideal relationships.
He said that the National Action Plan (NAP) was Pakistan’s security policy and there should be no political point scoring on it, as no country allowed politics on its security issues.
He said terrorism had been brought down by 70 percent and now no militant network could operate in Pakistan.
Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Pervaiz Rashid accompanied him.
Nisar said no one should discuss the civil-military relationship in public nor should anyone give out reckless opinions on the subject. “Though the civil-military relations have never been better, these have been exemplary in the last two years,” he said.
He said the army’s 111 Brigade would train the Islamabad Police in the coming days on the interior ministry’s request.
Disclosing the details of operations carried out under the NAP, Nisar said 68,000 arrests had been made in 62,000 different actions in the last nine months. He said that the law enforcement agencies released innocent people after due research and interrogation.
“Terrorism peaked after the last two military operations due to the incompetence of previous governments,” said the minister.
He said 1,114 terrorists had so far been killed since the launch of the operations to cleanse the motherland of militancy.
“Over 500 Ferrari rebels have laid down arms in Balochistan, where all the Ferrari camps have been dismantled. Karachi has witnessed 70 per cent improvement in law and order after the launch of the joint operation by the Rangers and police.”
The minister said all terror networks had been dismantled and now no terrorist group was operating from Pakistan.
He parried a question about the number of troops helping the civil dispensation in maintenance of peace, saying that the Pakistan Army was present in all the four provinces to help the civil administration in maintaining law and order.
“Only the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan can carry arms,” he said. He also came out strongly against those slamming the federal government for inaction over the 20-point agenda of the NAP.
Nisar said he had presented a progress report to the prime minister during the cabinet meeting. He said armed militias or groups could not use or exhibit arms, while sectarian groups were being targeted.
“Abolition of sectarianism will be the prime objective of the government in the near future. No one will be allowed to declare people of other sects as Kafir (non-Muslim), as terrorism cannot be fought without abolishing sectarianism,” the minister maintained.
He said fighting and cracking down on sectarian and terrorist groups was now the top priority of the government, with special focus on targeting those who glorified terrorists.
The interior minister said in nine months since the implementation of the NAP, the government had verified 140 million SIM cards. Consequently, he said, no SIM has been used in heinous crimes now.
Nisar said the government had carried out 211 executions and will move on with capital punishment. “Speedy trial courts have been established in the form of military courts; nine military courts have decided 28 cases while 46 are under trial.”
He made it clear that only hardcore terrorists will be taken to the military courts and no political pressure will be accepted in this regard.
He said legal amendments had been drafted and sent to the National Assembly after making seven recommendations made by the provinces. “For the first time ever, a clear and uniform list of banned organisations has been prepared,” he said.
The interior minister said the Ferrari camps were being dismantled regularly in Balochistan, while a substantive dialogue process had begun there. However, he said details could not be given in his regard.
He said a major breakthrough was expected in Balochistan as the civil-military leadership had been implementing the dual strategy of “operation and dialogue”.
Presenting figures, Nisar said militancy had been up since 2006 but it peaked after the army’s 2009 operations in Swat and South Waziristan, with 2010 being the worst year in terms of terrorism, when 2,061 attacks were recorded.
“But in 2014, this number came down from 2,061 to 1,640. This year, 695 incidents have so far been recorded of which there were no casualties in 305 terror attacks,” he said.
“We focused on intelligence-based operations (IBO) and in the past nine months we have conducted more than 5,900 IBOs,” said Nisar.
“Since the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, we have conducted 11,000 IBOs, with police leading the actions closely supported by the intelligence services and the Pakistan Army, when needed,” added Nisar.
He also said under the integrated security mechanism, the army had been deployed in all the provinces forming the third line of defence.
Referring to the Afghan refugees, Nisar said the government was developing a mechanism for their repatriation.
“We have also established a 1,000 strong counter-terrorism force in each province, while the army remains deployed as a Quick-Reaction Force (QRF),” elaborated Nisar while giving details of changes in the internal security apparatus.
“The army played its part in 2009, but the government did not do its job of coordination and providing support to the army,” said Nisar.
He emphasised that for 13 years, Pakistan had been fighting a war without a clear strategy.
“We pursued the dialogue process for eight months and because of that we were able to build a unanimous consensus on launching the military operation,” said Nisar while referring to the earlier dialogue process which had collapsed following an attack on Karachi’s airport.
He acknowledged that certain elements of the NAP had displayed slow progress so far.
“It’s a very challenging task to curb terror funding, as Pakistan is an unplanned economy; progress has been slow in this regard, but we are determined to control it,” stated Nisar.
“Not all seminaries are breeding grounds for terrorism; most of them are patriotic and a target themselves.”
Earlier, the cabinet offered Fateha for the departed souls of all the victims of the Attock suicide attack and paid tributes to Shaheed Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada for the sacrifice he rendered for the whole nation. The prime minister acknowledged the contribution of Shaheed Shuja Khanzada in golden words as member of the Provincial Assembly as well as Punjab home minister for fighting militancy and extremism.
Adviser to the PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz briefed the cabinet on the deadlock in the recent dialogue with India. On this occasion, the prime minister said that any dialogue sans the Kashmir issue would be futile. He said the Kashmiri leaders were an important party to this issue. Any decision on their future could not be made without their opinion and consultation. Earlier, Minister for Interior Ch Nisar Ali Khan briefed the cabinet on the progress achieved so far on the NAP. He informed that the government was making progress in key areas of the plan and due to the sacrifices of the armed forces and the LEAs, the situation had improved a lot. He assured the cabinet members that no criminal element or terrorist would be spared. The interior minister said the overall security situation in the country had improved considerably and “we will not allow anyone to derail the operation against the criminals.”
The prime minister appreciated the efforts of the interior minister and expressed the hope that this mission would continue. The cabinet considered and approved various agenda items placed before it including MoUs with foreign countries in the field of aviation, climate change, commerce, defence, economic affairs, education, finance, foreign affairs, science and technology, water and power, Board of Investment, ports and shipping and information, broadcasting and national heritage.