Concrete steps being taken to stop terrorism: Rana Sanaullah

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday that the government was taking concrete steps to stop terrorism in the country, Aaj News reported.

His comments come amid an uptick in terrorist activities throughout the country, especially after the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced an end of the ceasefire with the government.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Sanaullah said the state’s efforts against terrorism could not be made public as it would compromise its success.

“But this should not be taken to mean that nothing is being done,” the minister said, adding that tremendous efforts against terrorism were underway and the nation should be assured about the matter.

Commenting on the recent meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), the interior minister 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”.

“Whoever is involved in terrorism is a terrorist,” he asserted.

Sanaullah further said that authorities would take pre-emptive measures against terrorist schemes and arrest those involved to prevent such incidents from occurring in the first place.

He said that the NSC had also decided that the provincial counterterrorism departments (CTDs) would be provided training by the federal government in order to make them more effective.

‘Efforts underway to bring TTP to table’

At the same time, Sanaullah said that the government was trying to bring the banned outfit TTP to the negotiation table. However, the interior minister clarified that the group would first have to lay down arms and surrender before the law and the Constitution.

He said authorities were making efforts to keep the TTP at the “lowest level” and keep the number of terrorist incidents to a minimum.

“You will see the decisions that were made in regard to this being implemented in the coming days.

"The NSC also reiterated its intent to crush terrorist groups operating inside the country with full force."

Afghan Taliban’s remarks and TTP’s threat

To a question about the recent remarks from the Afghan Taliban and the explicit threat issued by the TTP to the PPP and the PML-N]3, he said: A “general threat” was present and the government was already taking the necessary precautions.

The TTP statement mentioned PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif by name, as well as their respective parties, and warned religious parties against “activities against us”.

“I never said that we want to attack Afghanistan or someone there,” Sanaullah said. However, as stated before, if any terrorist is planning to attack Pakistan or stage a terrorist attack then, as part of international law, “we can and should engage”.

Sanaullah said the NSC meeting had concretely decided that talks about any concerns or issues would only be held with the Afghan government.