ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: An executive meeting of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) will take place on Wednesday under the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The federal minister for interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will chair the NACTA meeting which will discuss and review strategies regarding administrative and professional matters of the institute.
The NACTA is a body under the interior ministry and is mandated to devise a counter-terrorism strategy that should address short, medium and long-term goals and devise action plans for their implementation.
It was initially set up in 2009 but its power has been greatly increased in March 2013.
The prime minister issued the directives in a meeting of committee constituted to oversee implementation of national plan of action on terrorism in Islamabad on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by the finance minister Ishaq Dar, the planning and development minister Ahsan Iqbal, the special assistants Irfan Siddique, Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed and Barrister Zafarullah, and the attorney general Salman Aslam Butt, along with other senior officers.
During the meeting, the prime minister directed that the NACTA be made functional with immediate effect.
The prime minister said that the government was committed to taking all necessary steps against the menace of terrorism. He emphasised better coordination amongst law enforcement agencies as well as the provincial governments and the federal government to achieve optimum results within a short period of time.
In addition, the legal team presented a draft legislation in the meeting for effective action against the terrorists.
The prime minister directed the legal team to hold consultation with the political leadership on the draft.
