ISLAMABAD The Interior Ministry has established 'National Counter Terrorism Authority to carry out research work, defining strategy for countering terrorism and extremism in the country. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the Government had decided to take advantage of other countries experiences in curbing terrorism and in this regard many of the countries were visited before the NACTA was designed. NACTA would play a role of a think tank and research organisation to find out the reasons of prevailing terrorism in the country and define a strategy for countering terrorism, Rehman Malik said. NACTA would have three wings, one looking after counter extremism, headed by some educationist or media person. Second wing would be related to counter terrorism, headed by a police officer and the third wing related to research and analysis, headed by some eminent academician. He said that NACTA had started working under the chair of ex-Director General FIA Tariq Masood Khosa while a draft was also being prepared for its enactment. He added that European Union would give 15 million Euros to Pakistan for this project out of which the Government had received one million Euros. Talking about the arrested Americans from Sargodha, Malik said that US Ambassador to Pakistan informed the Interior Ministry that some Americans have left for Pakistan without permission of the US government and on her information Pakistani intelligence agencies and Police arrested them from Sargodha. Ruling out their deportation, Interior Minister said that an FIR was registered against them and they would be dealt with according to Pakistani law. Giving details of the performance of the Interior Ministry, he said that the Crisis Management Cell collects all intelligence reports and shares them with the concerned Provincial Government, and uptil now it had given 568 alerts which helped to fail many incidents of terrorism. He added that Islamabad Police had arrested 76 alleged terrorists who were planning to target the Federal Capital. He also appreciated the role of Ulema in countering terrorism and said that 15000 religious seminaries have been registered while 5000 were in the process of registration. He informed that Wafaq ul Madaris had also agreed to adopt a new education policy for religious seminaries. Appreciating law enforcement agencies and forces, Malik said that Punjab-based banned outfits were helping TTP to carry out attacks in Punjab. To a query about Foreign Office statement regarding insufficient evidence of Indian involvement in Pakistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the Interior Ministry had sent a report to the Foreign Office comprising 2 parts. He said that the statement of the Foreign Office was a result of miscommunication. Malik also challenged his Indian counterpart to come and sit with him. I will prove their involvement in Pakistan, Malik said. Talking about Balochistan, Malik said that all the seven check posts had been removed after the Prime Ministers orders in joint sitting of Parliament while Kohlu was also handed over to FC. He added that due to shortage of FC personnel, Sui could not be handed over to FC. However, he said, steps are being taken to remove the Army from Sui and hand it over to FC. We have also ordered to withdraw 87 cases while a notification in this regard had issued, the Minister said. KASWAR KLASRA ISLAMABAD Ground has been prepared to deport five Americans arrested by police in Sargodha over their alleged links with terrorist, sources informed on Friday. The officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs have said that it is not legally possible to hand over the detained Americans to US as no extradition treaty exists between the two countries at the moment. However, background talks with the high officials of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior revealed that US authorities had been mounting pressure on Pakistan to deport Americans since their arrest. Pakistan is most likely to succumb to the US pressure in this regard and ground has already been prepared to hand them over to US authorities, an official informed. According to preliminary investigations carried out by special investigation unit of law enforcement agencies, a link between the arrested Americans and a militant group has been unearthed. One of the official told this reporter that FBI investigators in Washington were assessing a farewell video that one of the arrested students left behind, saying Muslims must be defended. When contacted, an official of Interior Ministry said he could not confirm reports whether or not the arrested Americans would be sent back to the US. Since the investigations are underway following the arrest, but still there are questions to be answered and these include, How did the Americans come to Pakistan together as a group? How have they become radicalised? Who is guiding them in Pakistan? How did they finance their trip? The farewell video has raised a vital question among the investigators that is still to be answered: What the farewell video was about, and what the men apparently were planning to do here in Sargodha? Investigators say they are still trying to figure out whether the men had drawn up a particular plan of action or were planning some kind of attack on a specific target either inside the U.S. or overseas. However they confirmed that there existed a link between them and a banned Jihadi organisation. It is believed that the arrest was made following the information of Federal Bureau of Investigation. Well-informed high-level sources informed TheNation that FBI shared information with Interior Ministry regarding five American nationals who went missing for more than a month. Following the information, law enforcement agencies traced whereabouts of five American Muslims and arrested them on Wednesday from Sargodha. TheNation has learnt that National Council on America Islamic Relation first brought the issue of five missing Muslim Americans into the notice of FBI. When contacted, CAIR National Communication Director Ibrahim Hooper confirmed to this correspondent from Washington DC that families of five missing Muslim students contacted the council to know their whereabouts. Following there complaint, we contacted FBI to trace them all, Ibrahim said. He confirmed that one of the arrested students left behind a farewell video saying Muslims must be defended. According to sources from US Embassy, on disappearance of five men in late November, their families and members of the local Muslim community sought help from CAIR. However, when contacted spokesperson of US Embassy Snelsire Richard could not confirm this. It would be better if you talk to FBI over the same issue, Mr. Richard advised this correspondent when contacted on Friday evening. The arrested Americans are 19 to 25 years old. One, Ramy Zamzam, is a dental student at Howard University. When contacted, a senior police official told the arrested people included Eman Yasir, Waqar Hasan, Umer Farooq and Khalid Farooq.