Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Friday expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of Ministry of Interior. While chairing a high level meeting to review the performance of Interior Ministry and its attached departments here on Friday, he said that the military operation was not a permanent solution to eliminate terrorism from the country and directed Ministry of Interior to make intelligence more effective.
Gilani said that the Ministry should take some initiatives that would help it to eliminate the impression that there is no effective strategy against terrorism. Federal Minister for Interior Rahman Malik; Minister of State for Interior, Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi, Parliamentary Secretary for Interior, Rai Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal, DG National Crisis Management Cell, DG National Police Bureau, DG Civil Defence, Commandant National Police Academy, Deputy Chairman NADRA, DG FIA and IG Islamabad were also present in the meeting.
Gilani said the measures or the actions taken by the Ministry of Interior in a bid to protect the life and property of the public should be visible, as this is the fundamental duty of the government to ensure foolproof security to its citizens. He urged the provincial and federal intelligence agencies to strengthen their intelligence network and closely monitor the activities of the terrorist/banned organisations, saying that they cannot afford to be complacent.
He said that due to the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan the terrorists were spreading across the country. Gilani said that serious efforts were required to countering terrorism and extremism through psychological warfare, which needs proper research and analysis of the minds of extremists and militants.
He further said that the federal government was fully aware of the situation and established National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), as a focal institution to co-ordinate and unify the entire national counter extremism efforts and to ensure the implementation of 3-D and 3-R policy. "By incorporating these parameters, the NACTA will come up with a viable strategy and best policy options for dealing with the law & order situation in the country", he hoped.
Earlier while briefing the meeting, Secretary Interior informed that the Ministry of Interior has 13 attached departments and seven civil armed forces which work to ensure country's internal security, rule of law, peaceful and secure environment to all citizens. He said the Ministry maintains close liaison with all stakeholders for enhancing security.
The meeting was informed that in compliance with Prime Minister's directive NADRA has issued 11.1 million CNICs free of cost to the public since June 2008. The selection of Benazir Income Support Programme beneficiaries is being done by NADRA in a transparent manner for determining the poverty score of each poor household in the country.
The meeting was further informed that NADRA is also working on various international projects including civil registration system in Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan and Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister appreciated the role of NADRA in dealing with the registration of displaced persons of Malakand, thus ensuring timely disbursement of Rs 8 billion to 2 million displaced persons. The Prime Minister also directed the Ministry of Interior to ensure that the announcements made in the Aghaz-e-Huqooq e Balochistan package, which fall under the purview of the Ministry, are completed within the stipulated timeframe.