ISLAMABAD: Amid immediate spike in terror-related incidents in across the country, National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which is a central body to ensure inter-agency coordination on terrorism and responsible for making counter-terrorism and extremism policies, is working as headless body for the past over a month.
NACTA was established in 2008, as an Administrative unit working under Ministry of Interior, with a National Coordinator heading it. In 2013, the Authority was granted administrative and financial autonomy through NACTA Act, 2013 and was created legally as a body corporate answerable to a Board of Governors.
Sixteen years after its establishment, the NACTA – designed to spearhead counter-terrorism efforts in the country – remains largely inactive. Created to facilitate coordination and intelligence sharing among Pakistan’s 26 intelligence and law enforcement agencies, NACTA aimed to strengthen their capacity to combat terrorism.
However, despite being founded by an act of Parliament in 2009, the organization’s legal status was unclear until the ‘NACTA Bill’ was passed on April 11, 2013, which finally gave it a solid legal foundation for operations.
NACTA was also designated as the primary agency for national security under the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) 2014-2018, approved by the Government of Pakistan on November 25, 2013. While the principles behind NACTA’s creation were commendable —such as collaborating with international partners on counter-terrorism initiatives, developing a national de-radicalization program, and implementing NISP with the support of provincial governments and law enforcement — the reality has fallen short.
One of NACTA’s key goals was to conduct specialized research on terrorism and extremism, establish an expert committee from both government and non-government sectors for discussions on its mandate, and produce relevant documentation based on these insights. Unfortunately, these objectives have not been realized.
Now placed fourth in the National Action Plan agenda, NACTA has become a largely ineffective body with minimal influence over policies regarding extremism and counter-terrorism. Burdened by controversies, legal challenges, and unclear status, along with inconsistent policies and insufficient funding, this once-ambitious organization appears unlikely to function as intended.
Last straw to break the camel’s back
As if it was not enough, the NACTA Chief Rai Tahir was sacked last August and was directed to report to the Establishment Division.
In its notification dated 28th August, 2024, the establishment division transferred and posted NACTA’s former National Coordinator Muhammad Tahir Rai, a BS-21 officer of Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) as Officer on Special Duty in the Division.
Since the removal of Rai Tahir, the government has yet to name the new head of the body, raising serious questions over the commitment to counter the raising threat of militants’ groups, which have gained a momentum after the fall of Kabul.
It merits mentioning here that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has been witnessing sharp rise in wave of terror-related incidents, with pressure building on the country on its western frontier where defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) are active.
In past few years, serious questions have been raised over NACTA’s overall performance as well. However, the recent delay in appointment of counter-terrorism body not only validates the doubts but also questions the government approach in addressing the issue of terrorism.
On one side, government is pressurizing the Afghan Taliban to take measures against TTP and other militants based in Afghanistan, but on the other hand, government seems to be oblivious of the fact that it also needs to strengthen and revitalize the bodies working on counter-terrorism domain.
Tariq Parvez, former head of NACTA, recently wrote an article to shed light over the need to revamp NACTA to help the organisation play its role in effective eradication of terrorism.
Parvez said that during decline in terrorism incidents from 2010-2020, the government continued with the short-term approach of depending primarily on the military for counterterrorism tactics and focusing on kinetic measures.
“When what we needed was a strategy to ensure sustained neutralisation of the threat through a two-pronged approach. We needed to a) rely more on civilian CT departments whose role is to disrupt terrorist networks, and b) focus more on the non-kinetic dimension to address the factors that breed militancy,” he asserted.
Also, Parvez said, terrorism’s evolving dimension in 2021 (after America’s exit from Afghanistan) which required a change in strategy and tactics, wasn’t correctly visualised. Thus, terrorism’s resurgence, which is likely to escalate significantly in 2023, indicates a multidimensional failure on our part.
“It was a failure of policy because we tried to appease the TTP through ill-advised negotiations in 2022, which only allowed the militants to return to their former strongholds and become active again. This move was strongly resented by the local population, who participated in public demonstrations in Swat, Wana and elsewhere, on an unprecedented scale, indicating that our policymaking on crucial issues like CT was neither grounded in the people nor inclusive and transparent,” he concluded.
