ISLAMABAD - While the country’s fight against terrorism has entered a decisive phase, the federal government has allocated only Rs171 million for countering terrorism out of its total Rs109 billion allocations for the law and order in the finance bill 2018-19.

The total allocation for anti-terrorism measures will go to the country’s premier counter-terrorism body —National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) — whose budget allocation is on the decline for the last two years as compared to the financial year 2016-17.

The government has allocated Rs171 million for NACTA under the head of its “anti-terrorism budget” as compared to Rs140 million allocation for the financial year 2017-18. Allocations for the NACTA have seen a decline for the last consecutive two years as compared to the Rs1.56 billion figure for NACTA in the financial year 2016-17.

For the first time, the government has made no allocation for the security of VIPs in the financial year 2018-19 that was Rs5.6 million for the outgoing financial year.

The government has allocated Rs109 billion for the law and order as compared to Rs91.18 billion for the outgoing financial year. The Rs109 billion include allocations for the Interior Division, Islamabad administration as well as police, civil armed forces, Frontier Constabulary, Pakistan Coastal Guards, Pakistan Rangers and miscellaneous expenditures of the interior division.

Of the Rs109 billion allocations, the maximum sum goes to the Frontier Corps Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Frontier Corps Balochistan. The government has allocated Rs60 billion for civil armed forces that include Frontier Corps KP, Frontier Corps Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan Scouts.

After the civil armed forces, an amount of Rs21.9 billion had been allocated for Pakistan Rangers. Similarly, an allocation of Rs8.9 billion had been allocated for the Frontier Constabulary, Rs1.99 billion for Pakistan Coast Guards, Rs831 million for the Interior Division and  Rs4.2 billion for the other expenditures of Interior Division.

Similarly, the government has allocated Rs8.44 billion for Islamabad administration, Islamabad district courts, capital’s civil defence department and the capital police. An allocation of Rs2.75 billion had been allocated for Immigration and Passport Organization.

Besides the Rs109 billion allocation, the government has allocated Rs24.20 billion under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the financial year 2018-19. Of this allocation, Rs11.68 billion had been earmarked for new projects and Rs12.52 billion for the ongoing projects. Under the PSDP,  Rs24 million had been allocated for Cyber Patrolling Unit,  Rs1 billion for the establishment of capital’s first ever anti-riot force, Rs100 million for the establishment of National Cyber Terrorism Security Investigation Agency and  Rs100 million for Islamabad Food Authority Project.

The government has allocated Rs831 million for the Interior Division and this allocation had been made for National Public Safety Commission, research and development of public order and safety and Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.  The government has earmarked Rs30.2 million for the National Public Safety Commission, Rs30.6 million for National Police Bureau and Rs30.5 million for the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.