Pakistan’s NACTA compiling data on Pakistan’s overseas terrorists

Pakistan’s National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior was told on August 29 that National Counterterrorism Authority (Nacta) has begun the process of compiling data on Pakistan-based individuals that are suspected of involvement with terrorist organisations abroad.

Nacta chief Ihsan Ghani said the authority had completed the task of data compilation on suspected militants who had fought in conflict zones such as Yemen, Iraq or Syria.

Progress on updating the list of those individuals who were placed on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 was also shared with the committee. The bank accounts of around 5,000 of the more than 8,000 individuals on the list had been frozen, he said, while they could no longer be issued passports or gun licences.

However, the confusion surrounding the Fourth Schedule of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997, which catalogues precisely such individuals, is symptomatic of the way in which the state has approached the fight against militancy — scattered, disjointed and incoherent. For one, it seems the government has not bothered to keep the document updated. A consolidated list provided to Nacta by the provinces, GB, POJK and Islamabad contains around 8,000 names.

However, according to a senior interior ministry official cited in this paper, 20pc of these people may be dead. Secondly, the law is not being applied even in the case of individuals included in it for apparently legitimate reasons. It is difficult to comprehend this lackadaisical approach. According to Section 11EE of the ATA, the Fourth Schedule is to include “any person who is an activist, office-bearer or an associate of an organisation kept under observation … or proscribed … or … affiliated with any group or organisation suspected to be involved in terrorism or sectarianism”.

In order to prevent such individuals from disseminating their extremist/militant ideologies, the same section of the ATA places severe limitations on their social interactions. For example, with certain caveats, they are not allowed to visit institutions where persons under 21 years of age study, receive training or are housed permanently or temporarily. The same goes for public places such as restaurants, television and radio stations or airports. Neither can they be found at the scene of public meetings or processions, or in an enclosed location in connection with any public event.