Bureau Report
PESHAWAR : The Apex Committee Friday expressed determination to protect life and property of the people at every cost and make an example out of the terrorists who shed blood of Pakistanis.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the important meeting of the Apex Committee held here at the Governor House.
The committee assured the nation that those who attacked innocent Pakistanis, would be punished and the government would come up to its expectations.
The meeting reviewed, in detail, the incidents of terrorism, particularly the suicide attack on the mosque in Police Lines Peshawar on January 30 and its aftermath.
The officials of the intelligence agencies briefed the participants about the overall security situation and the action taken against the terrorists.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Moazzam Jah Ansari updated the meeting about the ongoing investigation into the suicide attack.
He said they had identified with the help of the videos, the method and route, used by the attacker to enter the Police Lines.
The participants prayed for the elevation of ranks of martyrs in Jannah, grant of patience and fortitude to the bereaved families, and for early recovery of the injured.
While sympathizing with the affected families, the meeting assured that the blood of the martyrs would not go waste, and the government and the nation stood with the heirs of the martyred.
The participants saluted the armed forces, Pakistan Rangers, Frontier Constabulary, Counter-Terrorism Department, police and other law enforcement agencies for their unprecedented valour against terrorism, and paid tribute to the officers and soldiers who were martyred in the terror incidents.
The meeting also gave in-principle approval to the proposals for the upgradation of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), CTD and police, and the provision of training, weapons, technology and other necessary equipment to them.
It was decided that a CTD headquarters would be built immediately in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, besides establishing a forensic laboratory like the one in the Punjab province.
It was decided that all the state organs would work in complete cohesion and coordination, and with utmost dedication for the elimination of terrorism and the achievement of collective national goals. Necessary legislation would also be carried out in that regard.
The participants lauded the prime minister’s decision to call an All Parties Conference and expressed the hope that the national political leadership would sit together to forge a way forward for eradication of terrorism and take decisions through consensus.
They appealed to the Ulema and religious scholars to use the pulpit for elimination of terrorism. They should inform the public about the categorical announcements of ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ and guidelines of religious institutions that terror attacks were sinful, and against the teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah, and that those who shed the blood of innocent people had nothing to do with Islam.
Federal ministers Ishaq Dar, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, Maulana Asad Mehmood, Aminul Haq, Mufti Abdul Shakoor and Marriyum Aurangzeb, Adviser to the PM Engineer Amir Muqam, KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali and caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan, caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid, Azad Jammu & Kashmir Prime Minister Tanvir Ilyas, leaders of political parties, community leaders, religious scholars, representatives of intelligence agencies and high ranking police officers attended the meeting.
Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, chiefs of armed and civil forces, Secretary Interior, chief secretaries and inspectors general of police of all provinces, including Islamabad, AJK and GB, and the National Coordinator of National Counter Terrorism Authority were also present in the meeting.