National Security Being Used For Political Point Scoring Ignoring

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd Jan, 2017 ) : A spokesperson of the Interior Ministry Tuesday said it was quite unfortunate that a national security issue had been used merely for political point scoring without any substantive grounds and ignoring on-ground facts.

He was responding to statements of the Sindh Chief Minister and government spokesman reportedly made during the meeting of Apex Committee in Karachi, alleging the Federal government of not fulfilling its responsibilities vis-a-vis implementation of National Action Plan (NAP).

The spokesperson, in a press statement here, said that the 20-point NAP was a collective responsibility of the federation and the federating units with major points falling into the administrative domain of the provincial governments.

About the reported statement regarding glorification of terrorists in media, the spokesperson said it was a matter of record that the independent and free media of the country had shown great responsibility and maturity vis-a-vis glorification and promotion of terrorism.

"To remind, as a result of Interior Minister's meeting with representative bodies of media i.e APNS, CPNE, PBA and PFUJ, the independent media gave a commitment to blackout terrorists. It is a matter of record that media proved true to its commitment," he added.

The spokesperson said the allegation against the federal government of allowing banned organizations to hold rallies and meeting openly was factually incorrect. The policy of the federal government towards proscribed organizations, he said, was very clear and no proscribed organization was allowed to hold rallies or a public meeting.

The spokesperson pointed out that for the first time in the history of the country the present government had put in place a robust mechanism for proscription of organizations and individuals, besides maintaining digital database of such organizations / individuals.

Checking the activities of the proscribed organizations / individuals and initiation of action for any violation was a provincial responsibility, he added. "I wish Sindh government takes into consideration the record of both the federal and the Sindh governments from 2008-2013 vis a vis proscribed organizations and their cohorts," he said.

With regards the objection raised over functionality of NACTA, the spokesperson said from a merely dormant organization existing only on papers, it was now fully operational and supplementing state security institutions.

For the first time since its inception, practical steps were taken by the present government to make NACTA fully functional. It was a matter of record that during the tenure of previous government, NACTA was housed in a rented building with hardly any human resource and sufficient funds to operate.

Under the current government, not only the funds were released to NACTA but the issue of infrastructure and human resource was also resolved, he added. The spokesperson said at present 104 officers were working in NACTA performing various duties that fall under the mandate of the Authority.

He said that the budget of the organization for the year 2016- 17 stood at Rs 1,450 million which clearly manifested the resolve of the federal government to make NACTA a vibrant organization.