ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday a high-powered organisation should be tasked with countering terrorism in the country and called for enhanced coordination between intelligence agencies and the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) for the purpose.

Mr Malik submitted a draft proposal titled ‘National Internal Security Policy’ to the Senate Secretariat.

He said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) rarely shared intelligence with civilian organisations.

“Unless the two intelligence agencies are willing to work with their civilian counterparts to coordinate efforts to combat terrorism, as envisaged in the policy, the objectives will not be achieved,” the former federal minister said.

He asked whether Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would be able to transfer the command and control of the intelligence agencies like the ISI and IB to Nacta.

His draft policy said: “If Nacta is meant to lead the fight against terrorists then Nacta Act needs to be amended to change its role from an adv isory to a commanding role.

“The role of intelligence agencies needs to be properly examined and practical steps in terms of effective administration/operational control be fully defined.”

The mechanism for sharing information, he said, had not been fully explained as to how the agencies would share the crime data/criminal record of the entire country.

In contrast to what Mr Malik has proposed regarding the empowering of Nacta, intelligence agencies and some senior officials of the interior ministry have opposed empowering Nacta and also its proposed merger with the National Crisis Management Cell.

Spymasters have reportedly expressed reservations about sharing ‘classified’ information with Nacta and officials of the ministry have challenged key appointments in the authority in the courts.