The Board of Governors of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA)is pondering over the idea of creating a federal-level agency like the US’sHomeland Security Department, a federal executive branch in charge ofpublic security.
The idea was proposed during a meeting, which was held after a two-yeargap. Interestingly, the meeting coincides with the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) ending the ceasefire and the approaching anniversary of theArmy Public School (APS) Peshawar on 16 December.
In this regard, NACTA issued an official statement and stated that theInterior Minister, Rana Sanaullah, presided over the meeting. The meetingdiscussed various subjects, including NACTA’s structure, extremism,terrorism, and way forward.
It is worth mentioning here that the NACTA has to hold a meeting at leastonce every quarter of the year as per Section 6(4) of the NACTA Act, 2013.Nevertheless, the authority blatantly violated this Act, as it did not holda meeting for two years.
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Moreover, a NACTA official, who also took part in the meeting, confirmedthat the idea was proposed regarding the creation of an organizationsimilar to the US’s Homeland Security Department.
Meanwhile, another NACTA official, stated that the authority’s two-year gapis a sign that the previous civil and military leaders were more focused onpolitics rather than addressing the issues like terrorism and meeting theobjectives of the National Action Plan (NAP) and NACTA Act, 2013.