ISLAMABAD: The opposition has decided to block a move to transfer control of the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) from the prime minister to interior minister.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had recently told newsmen that Nacta would be revived soon and it would be controlled directly by his ministry, and not by the prime minister.

“We will oppose the decision of the interior minister in parliament,” Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP told Dawn on Sunday.

“Several opposition parties have assured us they will raise their voice against the move in the coming sessions of the Senate and National Assembly,” he remarked.

The senator said the Nacta bill was approved by the National Assembly during tenure of the PPP-led government in 2013, but the authority had yet to become fully functional.

Mr Babar said the authority was to work directly under the prime minister and not the interior ministry.

The Nacta Act says: “The authority shall be an independent body answerable directly to the prime minister.” In a recent meeting, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence also supported the idea of Nacta working under the direct supervision of the prime minister. Under the act, there is to be a board of governors of Nacta which is to be headed by the prime minister. The interior minister is to be one of its members. Tariq Pervez, the first director general of Nacta, had to quit his job after a turf war with the then interior minister, Rehman Malik, who wanted the authority to be under the control of his ministry.

Mr Pervez had conceived the idea of Nacta in 2008.

A security expert told Dawn that Nacta should be controlled directly by the prime minister because it had to coordinate matters with the provincial governments and with the civilian and military intelligence agencies falling under the control of the federal government.

“Organisations like the ISI, MI and IB will not give much importance to the instructions of the interior minister,” he said.

Senator Babar said the government had already issued SROs for bringing some amendments to the Nacta Act and put the authority under control of the interior ministry.

Sources in the ministry said that instead of empowering Nacta to overcome terrorism in the country, the government was relying on the Federal Investigation Agency to deal with the menace.

The FIA has to deal with not just terrorism but also with many other types of cases and issues through its immigration wing, anti-corruption wing, economic crimes wing, technical wing, cyber crime wing and its academy.

Media reports said on Friday the government had given special powers to the agency to deal also with the cases related to terrorism.

The PML-N government is pursuing the Musharraf regime’s policy of giving special powers to the FIA.

When contacted, the interior ministry’s spokesman said: “I have no knowledge of this.” Former director general of FIA Tariq Khosa said the agency already had a special investigation group which was established in 2003 to handle cases related to terrorism.