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.
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 the 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 rising threat of militants’ groups, which have gained a significant momentum after the fall of the Kabul.
It merits mentioning here that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have been witnessing sharp rise in wave of terror-related incidents, with pressure building on the country from the western frontier where Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) are based inside Afghanistan.
Even sixteen years after its establishment in 2008, 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.
In the past few years, serious questions have been raised over NACTA’s overall performance. However, the recent delay in appointment of the head of the counter-terrorism body not only validates the doubts about the government’s intent but also questions the government approach in addressing the issue of terrorism.
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.
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 the 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.
