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National Counter Terrorism Authority NACTA Pakistan

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NACTA’s Mandate
NACTA derives its mandate from Article 4 of NACTA Act 2013 and Policy Directives given by the Board of Governors. Article 4 of NACTA Act spells out the following functions:
1. to receive and collate or information or intelligence and disseminate and coordinate between all relevant stakeholders to formulate threat assessments with periodical reviews to be presented to the Federal Government for making adequate and timely efforts to counter terrorism and extremism;
2. to coordinate and prepare comprehensive national counter terrorism and counter extremism strategies and review them on a periodical basis;
3. to develop action plans against terrorism and extremism and report the Federal Government about implementation of these plans on periodical basis;
4. to carry out research on topics relevant to terrorism and extremism and to prepare and circulate documents;
5. to carry out liaison with international entities for facilitating cooperation in areas relating to terrorism and extremism;
6. to review relevant laws and suggest amendments to the Federal Government; and
7. to appoint committees of experts from Government and non-Government organizations for deliberations in areas related to the mandate and functions of the Authority (NACTA).
NACTA’s Evolution
NACTA was created, in 2009, as an Administrative Wing within the Ministry of Interior, under a National Coordinator, controlled administratively by the Secretary Interior Division, Ministry of Interior. All the postings/ transfers within NACTA were made by the Interior Division. However, in 2013, the Authority was granted administrative and financial autonomy and was created legally as a body corporate, answerable to a Board of Governors (BOG) headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the National Coordinator (NACTA) as Secretary to the BOG. The BOG was to provide strategic vision and policy oversight to NACTA. The Members of the NACTA’s BOG, under NACTA Act 2013, are as under:-
- Minister for Interior
- Chief Ministers of Provinces
- Chief Ministers of Gilgit Baltistan (GB)
- Minister for Law & Justice
- Minister for Finance
- Minister for Defence
- Prime Minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK)
- One Senator (recommended by Chairman Senate)
- One MNA (recommended by Speaker National Assembly)
- Secretary Ministry of Interior
- Director General ISI
- Director General IB
- Director General MI
- Director General FIA
- Chief Secretaries of Provinces, GB & AJK
- Inspector General of Provinces, GB & AJK
Under the Act, Minister for Interior was envisaged as Head of the Executive Committee, to assist the BOG. NACTA was initially housed in Ministry of Interior (S-Block, Pakistan Secretariat) and in a rented premises in Sector F-8, Islamabad. With the continuing evolution and expansion taking place after the promulgation of NACTA Act 2013. it was shifted to National Police Bureau (NPB) Building, in November 2015. Scarcity of space led the Authority to acquire additional space in NTC Building, Islamabad in July 2016 for its newly created Wings. However, after the allotment/ acquisition of PMI Building in June, 2017, alteration and renovation work is under-way to refashion it into a purpose-made NACTA Headquarters. Concomitantly, organizing and staffing of the Authority is under-way, against its sanctioned strength of 224 Officers (BS 17-22) and 617 Officials (BS 1-16), through a transparent mechanism on deputation, hiring and recruitment. Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID) is being established within NACTA to collect, collate, analyse and share intelligence from civilian and military intelligence agencies and develop a threat matrix based on high-grade intelligence under one roof. JID will serve as a coordinating platform for information exchange with a view to achieving common objectives of countering terrorism and violent extremism. The new Headquarters and the JID will be fully operational by the close of calendar year 2017.
Vision & Mission StatementsVISION: To strive for a safer tomorrow be comprehensively countering terrorism in all its manifestations. MISSION STATEMENT: It is NACTA’s mission to act as a focal national institution to unify state response to counter extremism and terrorism by combining the efforts of law enforcement and intelligence agencies and by formulating and implementing national counter terrorism counter extremism policies through exhaustive strategic and action plans, continuous research and adaptive innovation while upholding our core values of collaboration, excellence and attention to detail.
Strengthening of NACTANACTA is a think-tank which was established in 2008. Initially it as located in a private house in F-8, Islamabad and its administrative/discipline conditions were deplorable. In fact, some of the officers/officials got into a scuffle and beat up their Director General. That was the state of affairs when the present Government took over in June, 2013. It goes without saying that far from working as a think-tank, it had turned into an organization which cost the public exchequer but did not deliver much. NACTA STRENGTHENING 2013 ONWARD: The Minister for Interior directed that the private accommodation should be vacated and NACTA shifted to Pak Secretariat, in line with the profile and sensitivity of work. Instead of a BS-20 officer heading NACTA, a BS-22 officer was appointed as National Coordinator. After the appointment of a senior officer, more and more officers started to join NACTA. With the efforts of Minister for Interior, the Prime Minister allotted Pakistan Manpower Institute (PMI) Hostel building to NACTA, for its increased requirements. In addition, the building of the Capital Hotel has also been hired for 5 years. Renovation, refurbishment and extension is in progress for the housing of the Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID) of NACTA, which will play a vital role in intelligence gathering, coordination and dissemination. NACTA, for years, has been marred by a dearth of human resources. The Minister paid special attention to this critical issue and it was through his personal efforts and support of the Prime Minister’s Office that the Establishment Division provided the required officers to NACTA. A Member Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID) has been appointed. The recruitment of a core group of 53 personnel is under process. A comparison of Human Resource at NACTA is given below:
National Coordinators
NACTA is being/ was headed by the following National Coordinators, in reverse chronological order:-
- Ihsan Ghani, PSP (August 2015 to Present)
- Hamid Ali Khan (November 2014 to July 2015)
- Shahid Khan (July 2014 to October 2014)
- Aamir Ashraf Khawaja (December 2013 to July 2014)
- Dr. Syed Haider Ali (April 2013 to December 2013)
- Khawaja Khalid Farooq, PSP (July 2011 to April 2013)
- Malik Muhammad Iqbal, PSP (June 2011 to July 2011)
- Dr. Waseem Kausar, PSP (April 2011 to June 2011)
- Zafarullah Khan (September 2010 to April 2011)
- Tariq Pervez, PSP (January 2010 to August 2010)

Members and DGs

S#	Name	Designation
1	Mr. Muhammad Asghar Ch.	Member (Legal & Operations)
2	Mr. Abid Hussain	Member (R & ICT)
3	Brig. Imran Mushtaq	Member (JID)
4	Mr. Bakhtiar Muhammad	DG (Admn & Finance)
5	Mr. Shaikh Muhammad Umer	DG (Counter Terrorism)
6	Mr. Akhtar Umer Hayat Lalyka	DG (Operations)
7	Mr. Muhammad Jafer	DG (Research & Analysis)
8	Ms. Humaira Zia Mufti	DG (Legal)
9	Mr. Muhammad Rizwan	DG (Cyber Security & ICT)
10	Ms. Marryam Khan	DG (Counter Extermism)

Counter Terrorism

Counter Extremism

CVE Wing
NACTA has fully functional Counter Extremism Wing primarily mandated to propose Counter Extremism strategies and comprehensive National Counter Extremism Policy (NCEP). It is headed by a Director General, who assists National Coordinator in discharging functions of the Authority in reference to CVE specifically. Director General is supported by two Directors who deal with counter extremism policy development and counter extremism information, respectively. The directors are assisted by Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors. The mandate of the wing is as under:
1. Design and manage CVE programs.
2. Collaborate with existing international partners to identify opportunities to collaborate on CVE-related research and development
3. Identifying populations targeted by violent extremist propaganda, messaging or recruitment
4. Identifying risk factors that contribute to violent extremism in communities in Pakistan and potential remedies for public private institutions
5. Collaborate with provincial and Federal departments responsible for efforts relating to countering violent extremism.
6. Managing the outreach engagement efforts directed towards communities and areas at risk for radicalization and recruitment for violent extremist activities.
7. Establish a CVE Executive Steering Committee to oversee policy, strategy, and operational issues concerning CVE programs and initiatives
National Narrative
[caption id="attachment_6252" align="alignright" width="300"] Islamabad, January 14, 2017: Religious Leaders welcomed by the NACTA Officers to the National Narrative Workshop[/caption] Mandate:
NACTA vide section 4 of NACTA Act 2013 and National Internal Security Policy (2014-18) is mandated to frame a National Narrative to counter extremism.

Overview:

National Internal Security Policy (NISP 2014-18) states that constructing a robust national narrative on extremism, sectarianism, terrorism and militancy is the corner stone of ideological response to non-traditional threats. Such a narrative is essential for coming up with, ideological denominators in a diverse society.
Formulation Model:
NACTA adopted following formulation model;
- Multi-disciplinary stakeholders and experts were invited in relevant fields and in accordance with themes. They were assigned themes in area of their lifelong expertise and knowledge to deliberate upon.
- Small groups and cross functional groups were structured for a series of round table discussions.
- A National narrative Workshop was held from 14-15 January, 2017 for developing guidelines to formulate a policy document.
[caption id="attachment_6254" align="alignright" width="300"] One of the Eight Multi-disciplinary & Cross-functional Working Group discussing the contours of the National Narrative to Counter Extremism[/caption] NACTA held a workshop on development of National Narrative on 14^th-15^th January, 2017 at Bahria University Islamabad campus and invited Religious scholar, intelligentsia, educational institutions, media and other key stakeholders including Senators, Constitutional law experts, retired civil servants, academicians, economists, social scientists, member of civil society, serving public servants etc. for constructing and disseminating the National Narrative.
Thematic Scheme:

The National Narrative Workshop participants worked on the eight themes according to their expertise as under:
1. Encountering the mis-constructed religious belief and creating interfaith harmony and tolerance;
2. Politics and Political Systems
3. Implementation of law and establishing the writ of the state;
4. Trust development amongst state institution;
5. Socio-cultural values and customs;
6. Regular and Social Media;
7. Economic Policies and review by National Development/Political Economists;
8. Reconciliation with extremists and their Rehabilitation (National reforms and Reconciliation)
[caption id="attachment_6255" align="alignright" width="300"] One of the Eight Multi-disciplinary & Cross-functional Working Group discussing the contours of the National Narrative to Counter Extremism[/caption]
Recommendations:

The essence of the recommendations of these thematic groups is given as under;
1. The experts deliberated upon the assigned areas and developed guidelines covering broader perspective to be included in the National Narrative in the workshop, which is expected to provide policy input to the State and society for decades to come.
2. Experts groups came up with consensus recommendations after deliberating on the critical issues which play major role in fueling extremism and terrorism in the country.
Implementation Framework:

NACTA consolidated the work of experts as per recommendations and Federal Experts Committee reviewed these recommendations and NACTA prepared National Narrative document along with strategies, action plan, activities, budget and operational liabilities. NACTA has submitted this document to the Government in July 2017 for its approval/implementation.
National CE Policy Guidlines

NAP Monitoring[caption id="attachment_6265" align="alignright" width="300"]

Islamabad, NACTA HQrs, July 13, 2017: National Coordinator NACTA Ihsan Ghani presiding over inaugural meeting of NAP Monitoring via NAP VPN-Portal. DG Cyber CT & IT briefing the participants on the functionality of the NAP Portal[/caption] NAP Background:

After Army Public School attack on 16^th of December 2014, a national consensus was evolved to come down hard on the the terrorists through a concerted national effort. Whereas the National Internal Security Policy 2014 pointed out the broad policy guidelines and long-drawn reforms in various state institutions, a need to felt to chalk out an Action Plan with specific, mostly quantifiable and ultimately time-bound agenda to curb the scourge of terrorism which had by now started massacring even innocent school-age children.

A 20 Points National Action Plan (NAP) for countering terrorism and extremism was chalked out by NACTA/ Ministry of Interior in consultation with the stakeholders and approved on 24^th of December, 2014 by the Parliament. After the National Internal Security Policy 2014, it was the 2^nd consensual policy document approved by the Government. The National Action Plan, spelled out the specifics for the counter-terrorism drive in the country.

NAP Implementation Framework:

Consequent upon the approval of 20 points National Action Plan (NAP) on 24^th of December, 2014 by a special session of the Parliament, Prime Minister directed the then Minister for Interior, Mr. Nisar Ali Khan to design an implementation and monitoring mechanism for NAP, as implementation of NAP involved both Federal Ministries and Provincial Governments. An implementation framework was thus evolved at the Federal Level on NAP agenda items pertaining to the Federal Government, while Provincial Apex Committees under the Chief Ministers were established for overseeing the agenda points relevant to Provinces.

NAP Monitoring & Status Report: NACTA was assigned and entrusted with the role of monitoring body of National Action Plan. In NACTA, DG (CVE) is entrusted with the monitoring of NAP, who is assisted by relevant staff. [caption id="attachment_6268" align="alignright" width="300"]

A screenshot of the VPN_Secured NAP Implementation & Monitoring Portal launched by NACTA[/caption] An annotated status report on each agenda item of NAP is detailed below:

S	NAP Agenda Item	Current Status
1.	Death Sentence to Convicted Terrorists	484 Executions
2.	Special (Army’s) Anti-terrorism Trial Courts	11 Courts 388 Cases
3.	Ban on activity of militant outfits and armed gangs	5,06,072 Combing Ops. 2,28,640 Arrests
4.	Strengthening of NACTA	Hiring + Building + Budget 1.38 Billion
5.	Strict action against Hate/ Extremist Literature	1351 cases, 2525 Arrests
6.	Countering Financing of Terrorism	Model Laws NGOs obligatory Cash Declaration CFT investigation Units, Freezing & Seizure Rules’ 16 Hawala/Hundi Regulation, CFT Directorate
7.	Action against re-emergence of Proscribed Organizations	Passport /Bank AC Ban ATA 1997 Bans
8.	Establishing dedicated CFT (CT force)	Under provincial police
9.	Effective steps against religious persecution.	Pertains to Provinces
10.	Registration and regulation of religious seminaries	ITMP Registration forms
11.	Ban on glorification of terrorism in press/media	PEMRA, FIA, PTA
12.	Administrative and development reforms in FATA	Drafts Reforms in Cabinet
13.	Dismantling Communication Network	98.3 Million SIMS
14.	Measures against abuse of internet for terrorism	937 URLs blocked FIA, PTA, Tat’heer
15.	Zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab	Pertains to Punjab Government
16.	Ongoing operation in Karachi	Target Killing (↓91%) Murder (↓62%) Robberies (↓48%) 33,378 Illegal weapons
17.	Baluchistan reconciliation with all stakeholders	Surrender of Ferraris
18.	Dealing firmly with sectarian terrorists	185 Cases (2012) 37 Cases (2016)
19.	Formulation of policy for Afghan refugees	1,76,000 dubious CNICs blocked National Refugees Law
20.	Revamping and reforming the criminal justice system	National Consultations

The status is updated as of 1st October, 2017.

Laws & Policy

Criminal Justice System Reforms
National Internal Security Policy, 2014
National Action Plan, 2014
Historical Overview of CT Laws

Anti-terrorism Laws in Pakistan

S#	Name	Agency	Download Pdf
1	Arms Act, 1878
2	Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947
3	Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962
4	Anti-terrorism Act, 1997
5	Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010
6	NACTA Act, 2013
7	Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016

Research
Intel & Alerts
- Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID)
- Threat Alerts on Terrorism Incidents
Info & Data
FAQs

About Us Section Archived Articles

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About Us

August 24, 2017

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Vision & Mission Statements

VISION: To strive for a safer tomorrow by comprehensively countering terrorism in all its manifestations. MISSION STATEMENT: It is NACTA’s mission to act as a focal […]

Published by NACTA on August 24, 2017

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August 24, 2017

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Strengthening of NACTA

Background: NACTA was established in 2008 and later formally created through Act of Parliament in 2013. Initially it was housed in a private accommodation in F-8, […]

Published by NACTA on August 24, 2017

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August 2, 2017

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Members and DGs

S# NAME DESIGNATION 1 Vacant Member (Legal & Operations) 2 Vacant Member (Research & IT) 3 Mohsin […]

Published by NACTA on August 2, 2017

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July 21, 2017

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National Coordinators

Mr. Ihsan Ghani, PSP (who joined Police Service of Pakistan in 1989 as an ASP) is currently serving as National Coordinator NACTA. Earlier he has served […]

Published by NACTA on July 21, 2017

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About Us

NACTA was established as an administrative entity under Ministry of Interior in 2008. However, it was reorganized as federal authority vide NACTA Act 2013 to act as a focal national institution and unify state response to counter extremism and terrorism by combining the efforts of law enforcement & intelligence agencies and by formulating and implementing policies & action plans through continuous research, adaptive innovation and ancillary mechanisms.

All Archived Articles

About Us6
Counter Extremism4
Counter Terrorism7
Highlights5
Info and Data5
Intel and Alerts2
Laws and Policy5
News47
Research5
Tenders & Jobs2
Trending12
Events3

Latest Updates

About Us: Vision & Mission Statements
Counter Extremism: NAP Monitoring
Counter Terrorism: Safe Charities List
Highlights: NACTA’s 2-DAY NATIONAL YOUTH CONFERENCE CONCLUDES
Info and Data: International Cooperation (Agreements & MOUs)
Intel and Alerts: Threat Alerts on Terrorism Incidents
Laws and Policy: Historical Overview of CT Laws
News: NACTA’s 2-DAY NATIONAL YOUTH CONFERENCE CONCLUDES
Research: Initiatives & Collaborations
Tenders & Jobs: GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL COMMITTEE
Trending: National Youth Conference on CVE on Campuses