Although the Pakistan People's Party-led government took five long years in establishing an autonomous counter terrorism authority, the authority has finally been established by the caretaker administration on the basis of an act of parliament. It installed the authority, the first of its kind in the country, to integrate information of civil and military intelligence agencies, to proceed against extremists and terrorists. This notification gives the country a long awaited statutory machinery in countering terrorism that has menacingly taken a huge toll of the national life and Pakistan's socio-economic development. The Senate approved the bill on the authority on March 5 this year and on March 13 the National Assembly also passed it by a unanimous vote.

President Asif Ali Zardari has since transformed the bills into an act of parliament. Even if it has been authenticated after the PPP-led government had to step down, most of the credit for establishing the authority goes to its credit.

The authority will function through a board of governors under the prime minister and assisted by an executive committee headed by the interior minister. It will also have a national coordinator, as the focal person, and a deputy to execute the board's policies and plans and government instructions within the ambit of a yet to be formulated national security policy against terrorism.

The law seeks to interrogate suspects by an official not lower than the level of a police inspector. The law also makes audio and video recordings, phone recordings and emails as admissible evidence. It also authorizes authorities to take action against financiers of terrorisms, including confiscation of assets.
Tariq Pervez, who headed the Federal Investigation Agency from 2005 till the end of 2008, has since been appointed the authority's national coordinator.
The authority has so far prepared a number of research papers, including causes and remedies of Swat turmoil, trends of terrorism in Pakistan and the reasons of people joining religious militancy. The authority is the need of the hour in restoring peace in Pakistan by taking head on the elements acting on their extremist and terrorist agenda.

What, however, appears a major snag in its functioning would be that the authority is, right now, without a security strategy under a broader plan of action. However, such a strategy was formulated initially under a resolution by an all-party conference in Islamabad on Swat and Malakand on May 18, 2009. Moving ahead, a joint session of parliament passed on October 22, the same year a national security strategy after a two-week in-camera at which chief ministers of the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan. The authority must pick up this thread to rely on the two resolutions approved by the representatives of the people on the basis of an in-camera briefing by top men in security fray. This will save the authority from the meaningless exercise of working out another strategy.

Anti-terrorism laws usually include specific amendments allowing the state to bypass its own legislations when fighting terrorism-related crimes, if that is so required.

Pakistan is not the first country to have enacted the establishment of the authority. Several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have identical bodies to act as think-tanks to counter terrorism. The UK authority in particular was established in 2010 based on laws that tend to flout fundamental human rights. For example, the UK authorities have been detaining three Pakistanis from Birmingham for at least three years, although, they have not so far been formally charged.

The authority, said to have been formulated on a par with the best international standards, will provide a strategic vision to ensure implementation of the board's decisions. The authority reflects Pakistan's resolve to take all possible measures to counter terrorism and extremism and would hopefully play a pivotal role by coordinating with all law-enforcement agencies in taking effective action against those who carry out acts of terrorism and extremism. Among the authority's functions would be to receive and collate intelligence and coordinate and among all stakeholders to formulate threat assessment. It will also liaison with similar international entities to facilitate cooperation in areas relating to terrorism and extremism.
The sources of authority's funds, according to the law, will include federal government budget amounts, grants made by the international bodies, organizations and entities in accordance with procedures laid down by the federal government.


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