ISLAMABAD: The National Counterterrorism Authority (Nacta) has begun the process of compiling data on Pakistan-based individuals that are suspected of involvement with terrorist organisations abroad, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior was told on Tuesday.

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.

“We are in the process of having the data verified from federal and provincial departments,” he told the committee during a briefing on the status of implementation on the National Action Plan (NAP) to counter terrorism and extremism.

Ihsan Ghani tells NA body about plans to develop mobile app for reporting hate speech

The verification process would help sift those who went to these areas to earn a livelihood from those who posed an actual threat.

The point of the exercise was to minimise the blowback on Pakistan once these suspected fighters returned to the country after groups such as the so-called Islamic State (IS) began losing ground in Iraq.

The Nacta chief detailed measures to choke terrorists’ financial networks, saying that a task force had been established under the authority to coordinate efforts in this regard.

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.

Mr Ghani revealed plans to develop a mobile phone app to assess hate speech, where local authorities could upload any suspected speech on the app, which would relay it to the authority for vetting. He also apprised the committee of a national policy to counter violent extremism, which had been approved by the government.

In addition, an official of the interior ministry told the participants about plans to re-validate all existing arms licences and confiscate all unlicensed weapons across the country. A committee, chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi himself, would review the policy on prohibited bore weapons, the official said.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2017