Just a day after the deadly Peshawar school attack, Pakistan clearly declared its intentions to clamp down against terrorists on its soil. The country did not just mourn and bury bodies of more than 130 innocent children — deep divisions within the society and political parties on giving peace talks with the militants another chance were also buried with these young martyrs.
There was now a general consensus in Pakistan that terrorism can no longer be tolerated. To expedite the war on terror, Pakistan announced a 20 point National Action Plan (NAP) that established military courts and removed the six-year death penalty moratorium. The NAP complemented Pakistan’s full scale military offensive to flush out militants from their hideouts in north-western parts of the country. While significant success has been claimed in the military operation against terrorists, the real question is whether Pakistan is any safer after the passage of NAP?
As soon as Pakistan began executing militant prisoners, the country faced a series of reprisal attacks on mosques and security installations to coerce the government to reconsider its decision. Wary parents hesitated in sending their children back to schools in view of poor security arrangements and a potent threat posed by the militants.
However, a sense of calmness has returned to Pakistan as the nation demonstrates exemplary resilience to stand united and fight back. Since the introduction of NAP, security forces have arrested more than 32,000 people accused of violating clauses of the new law in over 28,500 operations. In addition, more than 600 terrorists had also been arrested since the approval of NAP.
These statistics point out that some possible terrorist threats may have been averted, but Pakistan still has to cover a long distance to break the back of terrorism. Critics of the NAP believe that the counter-insurgency plan lacks focus and was framed in a haste without much meaningful deliberation. For the success of NAP, government needs to allocate huge resources and strengthen ground intelligence against the miscreants.
The implementation of NAP at provincial level also leaves a lot to be desired as their administration is still struggling to devise a mechanism to closely watch activities of banned outfits. Even though militants face surgical strikes in the areas bordering Afghanistan, government is yet to chalk out a detailed action plan against sectarian militant groups that run wild in urban centers.
The successful implementation of NAP rests on close coordination between the civil and military leadership. At the same time, the civil society should play its role in standing up against radicalization and religious intolerance. While improvisation in tactics can be expected from terrorists to attack “soft targets,” the people of Pakistan must show determination and back this counterterrorism war.
For now, the implementation of NAP can be termed as a limited success as Pakistan’s security setup needs a thorough shakeup for tangible on-ground results. It is also imperative that the focus on scourge of militancy is not lost and each action of NAP is implemented in the true spirit. It is important that the government continues to make a decisive push against militants so that semblance of peace may return to Pakistan.
