ISLAMABAD: In its report on implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) for countering terrorism, the Prime Minister’s Office has projected that the ruling party’s own province of Punjab was leading the pack, with a higher number of arrests by law-enforcement agencies.

Punjab is also the only province where, as noted in the press statement issued by the PM’s Office, consultations with the media have been initiated to prepare a code of ethics for the coverage of banned organisations and terrorist actions.

Lauding the efforts of his younger brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has “asked other provinces to implement NAP in its letter and spirit in order to eradicate the menace of terrorism and extremism from the country”, the statement said.

According to the data available so far, Punjab has higher figures on NAP implementation than all other provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

According to official figures, 39 convicted criminals have been executed; 14 in Punjab, five in Sindh and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while other areas have yet to comply. In addition, 5,487 search operations were conducted in Punjab, 322 in Sindh, 1,223 in KP, 12 in Balochistan and 275 in Islamabad and in these raids, 33,591 people were monitored in Punjab, 2,887 in KP, 20 in Balochistan and 484 in Islamabad.

Law-enforcement agencies, then, arrested 958 suspects from Punjab, 244 from Sindh, 234 from KP, 188 from Balochistan and 235 from Islamabad.

Punjab has put up a good show, the press release said, in identifying and arresting people involved in hate speech. “436 people were identified for hate speech in Punjab and 17 in KP. Of these, 329 have been arrested in Punjab and 10 were picked up from KP.”

Over misuse of loudspeakers, 2,837 cases were registered in Punjab and 1,471 people have been arrested in connection with these cases so far. In Islamabad, 14 people were arrested on this charge. However, other provinces and areas have not submitted compliance reports yet.

The Punjab government has also sealed 41 shops for selling hate material and has confiscated such material from 1,085 different places. Punjab has also taken the lead, at least according to the press statement, in monitoring the presence of Afghan refugees in the province and 166,000 refugees have so far been registered. The PM’s Office noted that it hadn’t received any information on this account from other provinces. Punjab was also the only province where legislation was being prepared to deal with the glorification of terrorists.

The statement quoted the PM as saying that the federal government would provide all necessary resources for the capacity-building of law-enforcement agencies in all parts of the country.

Whether by chance or by design, the statement sounded more like a letter of appreciation for the Punjab government than anything else. Especially when compared to the other provinces, especially the PTI-ruled KP, Punjab’s numbers were made out to be far more impressive than the rest.

Published in Dawn January 24th , 2015

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