ISLAMABAD, July 12: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the Ministry of Interior on Friday to get its opinion and suggestions on the national security policy which the government intends to unveil soon.

He and members of his national security team were briefed by the ministry officials. During a question-answer session after the briefing, the prime minister asked about the ministry’s state of preparedness to effectively counter terrorism.

On Thursday the prime minister visited ISI headquarters where the military top brass briefed him on internal and external security threats the country is facing.

According to a senior official of the Prime Minister Office, the two briefings were planned to ascertain how effectively military and civil intelligence cooperated with each other.

Since the PML-N government was working on a national security policy based on real time sharing of intelligence between the civil and military agencies, the official said, it was imperative for the prime minister and his national security team to be informed about their working.

He said it was an open secret that there was no coordination between civilian-led Intelligence Bureau and the military’s ISI, which was always mentioned at various forums as the main cause of failure to curb terrorism.The Abbottabad Commission’s report has also covered this area. Its authors were convinced that because of lack of trust and working relationship between the civilian and military agencies, the country had become an easy target for terrorists.

The official said the prime minister repeatedly inquired about the level of cooperation between the two agencies at the two meetings. The two agencies lack coordination and there is no comparison between them as far as better trained manpower and equipment are concerned, in which the ISI is far ahead.

But, he said, the military establishment had agreed to foster coordination between the two agencies.

The prime minister and his team are also meeting political leaders and exchanging views with them about a workable security policy.

Mr Sharif has also held a meeting with parliamentarians from Fata across party lines this week to get their suggestions on ways of addressing the issue of militancy which has wreaked havoc in the tribal areas over the past decade.

During his visit to the interior ministry, he directed its officials to give a final shape to an anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policy in consultation with the provinces on a fast track basis. “The security agencies have to come up with hard intelligence to prevent terror attacks,” he said while speaking about the failure of the agencies to stop terrorists from carrying out attacks. “We have to perform. Failure is not an option.”

Referring to absence of working relationship between the agencies, he said all security agencies needed to work in coordination with each other. The country would have to raise a specialised anti-terror, anti-crime and enforcement force to face multiple challenges, he added.

He pledged to provide adequate funds for law-enforcement agencies to help them in improving their performance. But, he said, the agencies must deliver and come up to the expectations of people and the government.

He asked the ministry to support to the provincial governments in their endeavours to fight anti-state and terrorist elements.

Talking about the porous western boarder, he called for more efforts to stop the influx of aliens into Fata and other areas of the country. He expressed the resolve to trace the killers of Chinese and other foreign mountaineers and said this was his government’s top priority.

The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Adviser on National Security Sartaj Aziz, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Dr Asif Kirmani, political secretary to the prime minister, and senior officials of the ministry.

Meeting with Akhtar Mengal: In a meeting with Balochistan National Party-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who called on him at the Prime Minister House, Mr Sharif expressed the hope that reinvigoration of democratic process in Balochistan would remove the sense of deprivation and alienation that is rife among its people. He reiterated his government’s resolve to bring the province into the national mainstream by restoring peace and stability there.

Anti power-theft unit: The prime minister set up on Friday a special unit to curb power theft to be headed by Hussain Asghar, additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency.