National Action Plan (NAP), unanimously approved by an All Parties Conference on December 24, 2014, was named as such as the people of Pakistan were sick and tired of the long winding speeches of the rulers of the country against extremism and terrorism  without any action on the ground. The tragedy of the Army Public School Peshawar was fresh at that time and nothing less than an action plan would have been acceptable to the people of the country who were loosing patience with the double speak of the rulers. So all the participants, including those who did not consider the war against terrorism in Pakistan as our own war and who had a soft corner for terrorists in the past came around to the position that it is our own war and terrorist networks of all hues and forms are a threat to the country and its people. It was a significant change in the public stance of our state and society on this issue as we had lived in denial for quite a long time and those of us who had dared to point out the problem had to pay a heavy price. Even when after the devastating terrorist attacks in the country, resulting in large scale death and destruction the state grudgingly started accepting  the existence of terrorism,  it hastened to make a distinction between good and bad terrorists that obviously  led to the failure of anti terror campaigns as basically all the terror networks were inspired by the same ideology and operated as one syndicate including local, regional and international outfits.
In any case, when post-Peshawar tragedy of December 16, the leadership of the state supported by all political forces solemnly declared to implement the twenty one points comprehensive program of action against extremism and terrorism  on December 24, 2014, the people heaved a sigh of relief. They started expecting the revival of Pakistan of 1960s and 1970s best known abroad for export quality cotton, an image which was unfortunately replaced in the post-Zia Martial Law period by the image of a country exporting terrorism. The 21 points NAP covered almost every aspect of the country’s struggle against extremism and terrorism and had it been consistently and determinedly implemented it could have cleansed the country of the scourge o terrorism.
But if one critically sees the record of the last eight months of implementation of NAP the picture that emerges is quite dismal. The only point that was implemented in an almost unholy haste was bringing the constitutional amendments and legislation for the creation of the military courts to try “jet-black” terrorists. After the majority Supreme Court judgment upholding the law for existence of military courts to try civilians, the aforementioned courts have started convicting persons accused of committing terrorist acts. Most of the other points have just continued their fictitious existence. The parliamentary committee that had prepared the NAP and which according to the minister interior was to have an oversight roll in the implementation died down as the government forgot about its existence and never again called its meeting. The Interior Minister off and on makes declarations about the “progress” in implementation in his press conferences, but they are as impressive as the traditional “all ok” reports of our successive governments.
NACTA, that was supposed to be the lynchpin in the country’s fight against terrorism has failed to take off and remains as dormant as ever. The project was not as lucky as the Metro Bus project to get the type of consistent attention and resources and completed in time. The country has not been able to develop institutional mechanisms to continue a sustained fight not dependent on day today administrative decisions. Madrassah reform has remained only on paper and the Madaris remain as good or as bad as they were prior to NAP. There are still contradictory figures about the numbers of religious seminaries in the country and their registration with concerned authorities. There is no tangible progress in reforming their syllabus or controlling the inflow of foreign funds into them.
FATA reforms remain mere talk and the forces of status quo are hell bent upon squeezing the dying system to earn their billions. Since fabulous amounts of money change hands in FATA and goes up and up, it remains off the radar of anti-corruption crusaders. Societal and official circles, including civil and military bureaucracy that is thriving on war economy come out with one pretext after another to resist reforms. There is totally no justification for excluding FATA from the process of electing local government in the country. Non-conducive security situation is a very lame excuse for avoiding local government elections, because if elections for National Assembly constituencies can be held in FATA, organizing LG elections should be no big deal. By now it should be quite clear that without fully integrating FATA into the state system the terrorist networks will always find space for running their factories and their ability to continue their activities on both sides of the Durand Line will remain intact.
But the most glaring example of the failure in the implementation of NAP is the continuing existence and activities of the private militias and the proscribed organizations. Although Operation Zarb-e-Azb has inflicted devastating damage on TTP and some other networks, however their recent attacks have proved that they are down but certainly not out. Top leadership of even TTP remains at large. It is true that Datta Khel and Shawal have a difficult terrain and war hardened terrorists are putting up tough resistance. Hence it is a tough call. But the area is inside Pakistan and even after 14 months of continued military operation which includes severe aerial bombardment, drone attacks and the use of heavy long range artillery, the terrorists still remain entrenched in the area. The lack of political will to fully take on terror networks in the Punjab remains the Achilles heel of NAP. Full fledged military operations can take place in FATA, Malakand division and a big city like Karachi but not in the Punjab. Finally, Afghan Taliban have been allowed to relocate and continue their activities, contrary to the public pronouncements on this issue. The death of Mullah Mohammad Omar in Pakistan, and a flurry of activities for the nomination of his successor on our soil has ended whatever little plausible deniability existed before. Why doesn’t our ruling establishment realise that the brand of the Taliban as a fighting force is totally discredited due to its terrorist connotation and discarding it altogether is the only option. It will also be fair to the genuine Taliban (students) studying in Madaris so that they aren’t  labeled as terrorists. The denial of pursuing the policy of strategic depth towards Afghanistan will ring hollow as long as Afghan Taliban  will continue their activities on Pakistani soil.