NUMBERS, devoid of context, tell only half the story. So it seems to be with the figures presented by the interior minister in a briefing to the Senate on Monday, during a debate on a resolution calling for effective implementation of the National Action Plan.

His contention, while admitting that much remained to be done, was that the security situation in the country had improved substantially as a result of actions by the law-enforcement agencies.

To buttress his claim, Chaudhry Nisar also presented some statistics during his speech. He said, for example, that the security forces had carried out over 3,000 “intelligence-based operations” during the last four months in which 37,666 people were arrested, including many hardened criminals.

Know more: Senate for more effective steps against terror

All of them, he added, had been presented before the courts. According to him, they included 4,666 individuals arrested for spreading anarchy and delivering hate speeches while misusing loudspeakers.

At first glance, the figures seem impressive; but, to borrow a phrase the minister himself used on the occasion and one that is becoming something of a buzzword — the ‘logical end’ of these arrests is shrouded in mystery.

How many among the huge number arrested, for instance, have actually been charged with a crime, something that can happen only after evidence has been uncovered to support the suspicion under which they were arrested?

How many are being prosecuted or have been successfully prosecuted thus far? The lack of public outcry or court petitions against the detention of their loved ones by what would be thousands of aggrieved families, suggests that a positive spin is being given to the data brought on the record.

There is a growing realisation that there has so far been no progress in several key areas of NAP, including madressah reform and terror financing, and a question mark hangs over the long-term prospects of eradicating extremism.

Thus, even in the case of Karachi where, to quote Chaudhry Nisar in the Senate, targeted killings have fallen by 84pc, murders by 38pc, extortion by 37pc and robberies by 23pc, it would be plausible to ask if this is so because many criminals have fled the city, taking refuge elsewhere until it is safe to re-emerge and resume their activities within a still-intact infrastructure of terrorism.

The nation deserves to be kept abreast of the progress under NAP; only the unvarnished truth through properly contextualised data will suffice on a matter of such public importance.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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