January 29, 2016
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Former Provincial Minister of Information Technology and First Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel (BMP) of FPCCI, Mian Zahid Hussain urged to inject life into National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), to confront menace of terrorism & extremism and protect Pakistan from enemies within and outside.
Mian Zahid Hussain stated that the federal government has 33 organizations, constituting the entire national security structure, with a total strength exceeding 600,000 personnel that is more than the regular army of Pakistan. If all of these organizations operate, coordinate and plan jointly, their result to curb terrorism and extremism will be miraculous, he added.
Former Provincial Minister stated that NACTA was set-up in January 2009 to synchronize all efforts of all counter-terror stakeholders, civilian and military alike; and to address all dimensions of the terrorist threats and in 2013, a law was passed by the Parliament, to give NACTA a legal status, with seven functions, he added.
President PBIF stated although National Coordinator of the NACTA has been appointed by the Govt. but still it is facing four key hurdles, firstly, lacking of financial and human resources, secondly, resolve of leadership, thirdly, legislative ambiguity and fourthly, acceptability of NACTA among various federal as well as provincial Govt. agencies. Recently, Federal Govt. sanction Rs.1.06 billion against demand of Rs.2.1 billion, which is quite insufficient to launch this critical organization.  Appropriation of the required budget is needed to resolve its financial and human constraints; Prime Minister, being the chairman of NACTA, should call the meeting regularly so, it would have required clout; After 18th Amendment, NACTA can’t manage provincial authorities for its purposes, therefore, ownership from all provincial governments is also needed, he proposed.
Mian Zahid Hussain while lamenting the situation stated that after Bacha Khan University attack, the security agencies are facing much difficulty to gather intelligence against terrorists and sending these information to designated departments for delivering timely reports. This thorough and time consuming process could be easier if NACTA was activated, he added.
Mian Zahid Hussain stated that as a result of effective implementation of National Action Plan, in 2015 as compare to 2014, murder cases have been minimized to 3,844 from 5,282, crime against person cases diminished to 43,437 from 48,759, Kidnapping for ransom cases reduced to 71 from 91, dacoity incidents minimized to 1,286 from 1,950 in Punjab alone, which proves that if NACTA is activated the results on curbing terrorism will be manifold and overall crime rate will also be diminished.
