Rana Sanaullah plans to take serious steps to counter terrorism in the country

During an increase in terrorist activity in the country, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah assured the nation on Wednesday that the government was taking counter-terrorism measures. Terrorist attacks have increased across Pakistan, which are thought to have been planned and directed by outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders based in Afghanistan.

The TTP, which has ideological ties to the Afghan Taliban, carried out approximately 100 attacks last year, the majority of which occurred after August, when the group’s peace talks with the Pakistani government began to falter. The TTP formally ended the ceasefire on November 28. Sanaullah told a press conference in Islamabad today that publicising the state’s anti-terrorism efforts would jeopardise their success.

“But this should not be taken to mean that nothing is being done,” the minister said, adding that tremendous efforts were being made to combat terrorism and that the nation could rest assured. Commenting on the recent meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), he said that the forum had resolved to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy against terrorism with “no mixed messages and no differentiation between good or bad terrorists”.

“Anyone who participates in terrorism is a terrorist,” he declared. Sanaullah went on to say that authorities would take pre-emptive action against terrorist plots and apprehend those involved to avoid such incidents in the first place.

He also stated that the National Security Council (NSC) had decided that the federal government would provide training to provincial counterterrorism departments (CTDs) to improve their effectiveness. The forum also discussed the formation of a national body to coordinate with the various CTDs to improve their efficiency, according to the minister.