Pakistan unveils new security police

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 27 (NsNewsWire) — Pakistan has decided to give priority to dialogues with those militants who want to talk and be tough with those who continue terrorism in a new security policy unveiled in the parliament on Wednesday.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who unveiled sailant features of the policy in the National Assembly, said the the government has introduced basic change in its policy on terrorism and decided to target terrorist leadership in their headquarters, reports Xinhua.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who also attended the parliament session, told the house that there is no confusion on part of the government to deal with terrorism and assured the lawmakers to seek their suggestions to curn the menace.

The prime minister said he will invite all the parliamentary leaders for a meeting to discuss the way forward and options to deal with the issue of terrorism.

“This is not the policy of any political party but of the state and everybody should contribute to further improve it,” Sharif said after the opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah said that the opposition had not been confident on the new security policy.

Khurshid Shah said the opposition parties should stand by the government for the security of the country.

The prime minister said that this is not a final document and useful recommendations from the opposition and government branches could be incorporated in the document.

The interior minister did not give details of the first ever National Security Policy and said copies of the draft will be shared with the members of the parliament for a later debate.

But he said the 100-page policy document comprised of three parts, one of which will remain secret, adding that input of all the stakeholders was taken for the formulation of policy. He said one part of the policy is related to the strategic issues including the option of dialogue with the militants and the other with operations against them.

The Federal Cabinet in a meeting, presided over by Sharif, approved the draft on Tuesday. The policy will be implemened after debate in both houses of the parliament.

Khan said that a Rapid Response Force will also be establsihed that will keep coordination with all security institutions. The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which was formed in 2012 to lay down state anti-terror policies but had been inactive, would be revived in the new policy, he said.

On the dialogue with the Taliban militants, the interior minister said talks were held with commitment and transparency. But unfortunately violence in the country did not come to an end.

He informed the parliament that the prime minister, in the wake of grave violent incidents, had decided to suspend the talks and has also ordered to give a response to the militants if they carry out any terror act.

“Violence and talks cannot move forward simultaneously,” Khan told the parliament, adding the government, under a policy shift, will not remain silent if the Taliban continue terrorism.

Nisar appealed to the media and politicians that statements issued by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan should not be accorded much importance, adding that it was not a good idea to give space to the TTP’s points of view on each and every issue.