THE nation stands fully behind the National Security Committee (NSC), which declared in categorical terms on Friday not to allow resurgence of terrorism, revive National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), ensure security of all CPEC-related projects and warned that the law would strictly deal with those involved in the bloodshed of the innocent people.
It is all the more important that the NSC meeting maintained that all the state institutions were on one page, focused and united to safeguard geographical boundaries, lives and properties of citizens, writ of the state and for maintaining the rule of the Constitution and law.
The resolve renewed by the top decision-making body in the realm of national security is understandable as the situation in some parts of the KP province, especially Swat, is deteriorating with the passage of time and the local population is not feeling secure.
The seriousness of the NSC is reflected by the fact that MNA Mohsin Dawar and Mian Iftikhar Hussain of Awami National Party (ANP) attended the meeting on special invitation to make the deliberations meaningful and take input from elected representatives of the region.
Officials of the country’s security apparatus gave a briefing on the security situation in the wake of recent terrorist activities in the country and presented their recommendations.
The tone and tenor of the official communication issued after the important meeting is an indicator that the Government, the defence forces, law enforcing agencies and the political leadership were fully prepared to go to any extent to ensure security of the people and resumption of normal life in the troubled areas.
An apex committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been constituted and hopefully it will have representation of the local people so that they are taken on board on all measures being contemplated to normalize the situation.
It is also understood that the unconventional war against terror cannot be successfully fought without allocation of necessary resources and provision of necessary equipment.
In this regard, it is important to note that anti-terrorism system would be upgraded and equipped with the latest technology, and the meeting decided and vowed to ensure provisions of resources for the purpose.
The Government has tried its level best to engage militants through a dialogue process and in this regard even cooperation of Afghan Taliban was also sought.
The Government showed flexibility despite the fact that the defence forces and security agencies have the demonstrated capability of foiling designs of terrorists.
The initiative of talks was aimed at preventing bloodshed and giving an opportunity to misguided elements to lead peaceful and normal life but regrettably this willingness was taken as a sign of weakness.
We hope the issue would be debated threadbare in Parliament and on the basis of input from the parliamentarians, an action plan would be prepared and implemented to restore peace.
PTI leadership is accusing the centre and the security agencies of failure to ensure peace but the allegation is devoid of substance as the party is ruling the province for the last nine years and it should have taken steps to ensure writ of the Government, especially when the defence forces cleared the area of terrorists and militants.
The problem would remain there if there was no effective coordination between the Centre and the province and an all-encompassing strategy is implemented for peace and development of the affected regions.
That the terrorists are playing in the hands of the enemy is also evident from the fact that development projects including those under the umbrella of CPEC are being targeted besides attacks on Chinese manpower working on these projects.
In this backdrop, the decision of the forum to beef up security for CPEC projects and manpower is a step in the right direction and this would help expedite implementation of these economically significant projects.
There can be no two opinions that the success of counter-terrorism strategy is directly linked to the level of national unity.
Therefore, the declaration of the NSC to safeguard “ lives and properties of citizens, writ of the state and for maintaining the rule of the Constitution and law” assumes greater significance and one hopes no effort would be made by anyone to harm national harmony and unity.
