Pakistan's National Action Plan
Pakistan is one of the countries that had faced relative peace from terrorist attacks at the commencing of the new millennium, especially when compared to its neighbors like Iran and Afghanistan. However, the USA is still harboring some terrorist groups due to the fact of the country’s neutrality on the issue. In 2003, the 164 Pakistanis lost their lives in attacks done by various terrorist organizations located in the Waziristan belt in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In 2004, the Pakistani government was under pressure from its people and officially launched a reactive strategy closer to terrorism. The commitment of the Pakistani government to combat terrorism from 2004 made the country a primary goal of the various terrorist groups in South Asia. During this time, the country had not formulated a specific policy that could help the government counter terrorists. This paper will analyze one of the latest counter-terrorism policies put in place by the Pakistani government, The National Action Plan (NAP). The formulation of this plan was in reaction to a terrorist attack on Peshawar military-administered school in December 2014, which led to the death of 132 children.
According to Zahid
The number of lives lost to terrorism rose from about 140 in 2003 to 1781 in 2014 when the NAP was enacted. In 2015, the number fell to 940 and further to 308 in 2016. The number of insurgents involved in terrorist attacks also fell from 3182 in 2014 to 632 in 2016. Before the implementation of NAP, successive Pakistani governments did not have a concrete counterterrorism policy. Most of the actions by the government were driven by events in reaction to public criticism. Therefore, these reactions did not have any concrete targets apart from pacifying public opinion.
The National Internal Security Policy
The National Internal Security Policy (NISP) was presented in the Pakistani parliament in May 2014. The NISP acted as a surface rearrangement of the security departments. It was the initial reaction to the growing interests of the public towards the growing public interest to terrorist threats. The public and the policymakers felt that the National Internal Security Policy was unlikely to achieve the intended results within the four years that it was meant to run. Therefore, the parliament had to come up with a supplementary policy that can help the government reorganize the available resources and counter the increasing threat posed by terrorist groups.
On 16th December 2014
On 16th December 2014, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan faction killed 145 people, among them 132 children. The Prime Minister made a television address to the nation on 24th December and announced the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP). The plan was enacted at a time when the country was under a state of emergency that had been declared by the government. The 20 points of the NAP included executing convicted terrorists, setting up special courts to try suspected terrorists, and neutralizing all armed militias.
Initially, the NAP received criticism
Initially, the NAP received criticism from the civil society who felt that it was too rudimental to bear any reasonable benefits. This criticism was taken up by the government, which went ahead to come up with individual plans on each of the 20 points. The implementation of the plans has seen the country enjoy relative peace from terrorist attacks. The criticism that the Pakistani government received, especially after the 16th December 2014 attack, helped to draw the attention of the practitioners on the importance of tackling terrorism. The NAP is a general policy that only highlights the important areas to be given attention in antiterrorism campaigns. The practitioners had to think of specific methods and strategies that would satisfy the population that they were doing enough to deal with insecurity. The three most important steps that practitioners took to express their commitment to counterterrorism under NAP are combing operations in the whole country, deploying rangers in Karachi, which had turned into a base for many terrorist organizations, and enactment of multiple antiterrorism laws.
Karachi was of key importance
Karachi was of key importance for the policy practitioners. By the end of 2014, the city was the most insecure in the country, and people went about their business with a lot of fear. The people felt that the provincial administration was overburdened by the threat. The policy practitioners had to come up with a formula to help the provincial and federal governments combine efforts to secure the people of Karachi from attacks. Rangers were deployed by the federal government to act on information and data collected by the provincial administration, which led to a significant reduction in the number of killings and terrorist-related crimes.
In order to assist
In order to assist the law enforcement agencies in dealing with most of the aspects within the NAP, a number of legislations were passed. The policymakers pushed for the amendment of Section 21 EEEE of Anti-Terrorist Act and the POPA 2014. These two acts gave law-enforcement agencies the resources required to prepare them for various interventions. The 21st amendment was also passed to constitutionalize the process of creating military courts that are parallel to the regular ones. Some of these laws were in contravention with the provisions of the constitution. However, the policymakers were able to rally people behind them since they were necessary for reforms in the judiciary to enable it deal with the emerging issues. Despite the successes that the policy practitioners have made in the country, there are many drawbacks because not all the 20 points in the NAP have been addressed. Madrassa and Fata reforms are yet to be implemented because the policymakers have not come up with specific approaches.
Conclusion
The NAP made up of 20 items that mainly highlight the important areas in counterterrorism campaigns. However, the document does not specify how each of the highlighted points will be achieved. As a result, the policy practitioners have had a hard time trying to formulate ways through which each of the issues will be addressed. Reasonable progress has been made through three important steps: combing operations all over the country, deploying rangers to Karachi through collaboration between the federal government and provincial administration, and formulation of antiterrorism laws. Most of the pints in NAP have been addressed. However, some judicial reforms have been partially addressed, while others such as Madrassa and Fata reforms and rehabilitation of radicalized individuals remain untouched. Generally, policymakers have done a good job in coordinating the relevant government agencies and utilizing the available resources. Pakistan’s NAP is a good counterterrorism policy because it only highlights the important areas and leaves the implementation process open to ideas from implementers. The plan is thus flexible, and the strategies to deal with each item are designed in resonance with the prevailing conditions and resources available.
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