ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the present federal government has taken concrete measures to address the challenge of terrorism.
The premier made these remarks while winding up debate on Peshawar terrorist incident in the Senate on Wednesday evening.
Sharif said that sub committees formed to prepare recommendations on 20-points of the national action plan have started submitting their reports and these are being implemented.
The prime minister said that the parliament and the entire leadership of the country is firmly standing behind national action plan against terrorism and its implementation has begun. He said that he is personally reviewing the progress on daily basis.
Nawaz Sharif said that priority is being given to devise a system to bring terrorists to justice.
For this purpose the national political and military leadership in its meeting on December 24 unanimously decided to constitute special courts headed by military officers where cases of only terrorists’ incidents would be tried, he said.
The prime minister said that a draft of legal and constitutional amendments has been prepared and expressed the confidence that the parliament would approve them.
“We are passing through an extra-ordinary situation demanding extra-ordinary measures,” Sharif said talking about reservations expressed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Mian Raza Rabbani regarding possible misuse of military courts.
Sharif pointed out that cases of serious crimes are pending with normal courts for 20 to 30 years.
The premier said that it has been decided that no armed group would be allowed to operate in Pakistan and impose their ideologies on the nation. Similarly, he added, banned organizations would not be allowed to operate under any other name in any circumstances.
Nawaz Sharif emphasized that freedom of media and democracy are inter-twined but the national leadership decided that glorification of terrorism would not be allowed.
The prime minister said that decisions about how to address the menace of terrorism are not being made by an individual but the national leadership and the parliament.
Sharif said that the proposed measures are aimed at securing life of the people and everything is being done within the ambit of the constitution.
Moreover, he said that how can be deviate from law and the constitution when he struggled for freedom of judiciary. He, however, said that it is question of survival of the nation and safety of our future generations.
“If we did not act now, then the situation would aggravate and would become difficult to handle,” the premier said.
