Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Shareef on Tuesday underlined the need for “matching and complimenting governance initiatives” for long-term gains of internal operations and enduring peace across Pakistan. An exhaustive review of the country’s internal security situation was carried out at the Corps Commanders Conference in Rawalpindi, chaired by COAS Raheel Shareef, where he acknowledged the full support of the nation in the ongoing operations to eliminate terrorism and extremism from the country. Gen Raheel appreciated the progress of these operations, including Intelligence Based Operations (IBOs), their achievements and effects, while stressing that the government must also be supportive in this regard. He also highlighted issues which could undermine the effects of operations including the progress of the National Action Plan’s (NAP) implementation, finalisation of Fata reforms, and conclusion of all ongoing Joint Investigation Teams (JIT) at priority. The army chief directed his subordinates to expedite the return of Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs) including the rehabilitation of all displaced families. We don’t know what exactly was discussed regarding these gaps in the implementation of NAP, but the impression emerging from all these reviews is that the leadership — both civil and military — appears to be stuck in deciding how to move forward in these areas. There is little surprise in this. Fighting militants on the ground is a far simpler task than rooting out their networks of supply and support. The former represents a guts-and-glory type of a fight.The latter is more cerebral, requiring nerve and brains, as well as the capacity to mould the discourse and regulate the flows of funds and materiel within the economy. In short, the latter task rubs up against all the key weaknesses of the state itself — its civil-military fault lines and the fact that the wheels of the state — its very writ in fact — rarely touches the ground.The case of terror financing is a case in point. Where the standard law-enforcement bodies of the country have struggled to detect and intercept terrorism funds, the Rangers in Karachi have used extraordinary powers granted to them under an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act passed in the run-up to their operation, to apprehend all manner of people — from politicians to political workers and street criminals, to hardened members of banned outfits — and charged them mostly with terror financing simply to be able to hold them for 90 days. Very few, if any, of those apprehended have actually been charged, and even fewer convictions have been obtained. This muscular approach, with open-ended targeting, is the wrong way to intercept terror funding. The right way is to ratify those international conventions that will activate the assistance from authorities in central banks around the world to trace the movement of funds, and develop an automated system for flagging potentially troublesome flows in the financial system.
pk.shafaqna.com
