Islamabad will not to allow any militant group to operate in Pakistan or use its territory for any militant activity within or outside the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted Thursday.
Chairing the first meeting of the National Internal SecurityCommittee here at the Prime Minister Office, Khan said the implementation ofthe National Action Plan (NAP) to combat terrorism and extremism was theforemost priority of his government.
The meeting took place on the day a delegation of theAsia-Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering, a regional affiliate of theFinancial Action Task Force (FATF), was in Islamabad to assess if Pakistan hasmade enough progress on global standards against financial crimes to warrantits exclusion from the watchdog’s grey list.
Prime Minister Khan said the formulation of the NAP wasreflection of the will of the nation and a consensus document agreed upon byall political parties of the country.
The NAP was formulated after the 2014 terror attack on theArmy Public School in Peshawar that killed nearly 150 people, mostly students.
He said the government was committed to remove allimpediments towards implementation of the plan in letter and spirit.
“Pakistan is firmly committed to not allow any militantgroup to operate in the country or use its territory for any militant activitywithin or outside Pakistan,” he told the meeting.
The prime minister said Pakistan had suffered immensely,both in terms of human lives as well as material losses, due to the “menace ofterrorism”.
“Pakistan had made significant progress towards combatingterrorism and ensuring peace,” Khan was quoted as saying by Geo News.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood,Minister for Religious Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, director generals of theInter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and seniorofficials.
Recounting various legislative and administrative measurestaken by the government in dealing with militancy, combatingmilitant-financing, money laundering, Khan stressed the need for continued andsustained on-ground efforts towards taking this struggle to a conclusive end.
Finance minister Umar gave the meeting an update about theFinancial Action Task Force related matters and meetings held with the AsiaPacific Group.
Secretary of Interior Maj (retd) Azam Suleman Khan apprised the meeting about the progress of implementation of the NAP and highlighted the efforts being made in dealing with the issues of cybersecurity, money laundering, madrassa reforms, and addressing various challenges in the way of successful implementation of the plan.