Pakistan may act against terror as global pressure mounts
The government has made a firm decision that there will be action against all militant groups and this is in line with the political consensus in the National Action Plan (NAP). The NAP was finalised after a 2014 Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar killed nearly 150 people.
Pakistan appears to be preparing for a crackdown on extremist and militant groups, with the imminence of action being confirmed by information minister Fawad Chaudhry against the backdrop of mounting international pressure to counter terrorism.
The government has made a firm decision that there will be action against all militant groups and this is in line with the political consensus in the National Action Plan (NAP), Chaudhry told a programme on Dawn News channel on Sunday. The NAP was finalised after a 2014 Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar killed nearly 150 people.
Chaudhry refused to set a time-frame for operations against groups such Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which claimed the Pulwama attack that triggered the recent stand-off with India, Jamaat-ud Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), and said this would be decided by security forces.
“The action would soon be visible as things progress,” a person familiar with the plan was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper during a background briefing for journalists on Sunday.
The person said there could be law enforcement actions against JeM, JuD and FIF. Pakistan will also review its stance on the listing of JeM chief Masood Azhar by the UN Security Council.
“No individual is more important than Pakistan,” the person said, adding, “Pakistan won’t make it a matter of ego.” Referring to China, which has blocked Azhar’s listing on technical grounds, he said, “We won’t test our friends either.”
France, the US and Britain recently moved the Security Council for listing Azhar as a global terrorist. Pakistan has faced growing pressure from world powers since the Pulwama attack, which killed 40 troopers on February 14, with the UN Security Council naming the JeM in a statement that condemned the strike and called on all states to cooperate with India to bring the perpetrators to justice.
People familiar with matter in Islamabad said grounds would be prepared before launching any operation and Pakistan is keen to ensure the move doesn’t create the impression that it is acting only because of pressure from the international community.
A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Pakistan PM Imran Khan on February 21 “decided to accelerate action against proscribed organisations” and ordered the imposition of a ban on JuD and FIF. Khan said at the time the state couldn’t be allowed to “become hostage to extremists”.
However, the list of banned groups posted on the website of Pakistan’s National Counter-Terrorism Authority still lists JuD and FIF as being on the interior ministry’s watch list.
The person cited by Dawn said the decision to crack down on extremist groups was taken before the Pulwama attack, although it became public later. The dossier given by India to Pakistan on the Pulwama attack, he said, contained only an iteration of the “narrative on alleged Pakistan-based groups” and nothing that suggested a Pakistani role.