ISLAMABAD – Pakistan to get a full-fledged joint intelligence directorate(JID) soon.
According to a *reportlink*inthe local media, NACTA’s board of governors, likely to meet on September25, is expected to take a decision in this regard among other majorinitiatives, which include an official building for JID. The meeting isreportedly going to be headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In addition to the prime minister, other members of the board of governorsinclude the chief ministers of all provinces, inspectors general of allprovinces, all provincial home ministers and home secretaries, and federalinterior secretary. Directors-general of all intelligence agencies,including the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and ISI, are also likely toparticipate in the meeting.
Moreover, it is learnt that the JID would be headed by a serving MajorGeneral Major General of Pakistan Army and include other high-rankingsenior personnel of the Pakistan Army.
Sources shared that the board of governors is also likely to approve thehiring of JID personnel in BPS-1 to BPS-19, adding that the meeting wasalso likely to approve the hiring of 300 employees in Nacta in the same payscales, considering the authority is facing an acute staff shortage.
In the past several years, several attempts have been made to form the JIDin NACTA. However, most of them have been in vain. Since the formation ofNACTA in 2009, no meeting of the board of governors was held because ofseveral reasons, including the issue of formation of the anti-terrorismwatchdog’s board of governors.
The main purpose of the JID is to create a joint intelligence-sharingplatform, besides increasing intra-agency collaboration for curbingterrorism.