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| Raheel Sharif (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Usman Ansari
ISLAMABAD — Ahead of a trip to Washington, Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has sounded the alarm over the lack of follow-up by the government to secure hard-won benefits from the military's operation against the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).
Sharif was speaking on Monday during a corps Commanders Conference at Army HQ in Rawalpindi. A statement by the military's Inter Services Public Relations media branch said Sharif "underlined the need for matching/complementary governance initiatives for long-term gains of operation and enduring peace across the country. Progress of National Action Plan’s implementation, finalization of [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] reforms, and concluding all ongoing [joint investigation teams] at priority, were highlighted as issues, which could undermine the effects of operations."
The National Action Plan is a 20-point endeavor put in place by the government in January after the December 2014 TTP attack on a school in Peshawar that saw 145 killed (132 children) and 114 injured.
Among other measures it aimed to provide a holistic approach to combating terrorism by implementing a series of criminal justice and financial reforms allowing for the curtailment of hate speech and organizations, raising new counterterrorism units, and improving the access to communications traffic available to the intelligence services.
However, measures to clamp down on banned organizations, hate speech and terrorism financing, and the planned reform of religious schools, have not met with the desired progress.
Read the full story at DefenseNews