According to existing provision in the NACTA Act, the board of governors must meet every quarter is not viable due to its composition, he said, adding that Ministry of Interior supports 'The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Act, 2017,' seeking board of governors of NACTA may meet whenever it is necessary and there should be a meeting at least once a year.
He said that the members of board of governors include interior minister, chief minister of four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan, minister of law and justice, minister of finance, minister of defence, Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), one Senator, one MNA, secretary interior, director general Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI), DG Military Intelligence (MI), DG Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Co-ordinator NACTA, chief secretaries of provinces, GB and AJK, DG Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and inspector generals of police (IGP) of all provinces, AJK and GB.
The standing committee which met with MNA Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan in the chair passed "The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Act, 2017,' moved by MNA Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho. The bill is seeking amendment in sections 6 and 8, Act XIX 2013. The bill has already been passed by the Senate. The bill is seeking that in the section (6) in subsection (4) in the NACTA Act, 2013 the words 'each quarter of' shall be omitted and in the said act in section 8, after sub-section 6, the following new sub-section (7) shall be added namely "(7) the executive committee may meet as and when required but it shall meet at least once in each quarter of a year."
According to the official, the interior minister is the chairman of executive committee and its members include secretary interior, secretary finance, secretary law and justice, foreign secretary, secretary defence, national co-ordinator NACTA, additional chief secretary, chief secretaries of provinces, GB and AJK, secretaries home departments of all provinces, AJK and GB and additional inspector general (AIGs) in-charge of counter terrorism departments (CTDs) of all provinces, GB and AJK.
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, ever since the NACTA act was passed the board of governors has not met even once. The board of governor headed by the Prime Minister includes about 25 members and they have rarely time to meet. The board of governors is a policymaking and review body. It would meet whenever it is necessary for it and at least once a year. The existing provision that board of governors must meet every quarterly is unrealistic and due to this one reason it has not met even once during the past over one year.
The executive committee, which is the implementing body, should be required to meet with regular intervals. In the existing law, it is not mentioned that how often the executive committee should meet. This has left a lacuna in the law. The committee also passed 'The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015,' moved by Dr Nikhat Shakeel Khan, seeking to amend the law for enhancing payment of compensation to victims of traffic accidents travelling in public transport vehicles, to ensure insurance of public transport vehicle commuters by reputed insurance companies and banks and to facilitate constitution of medical panels authorised to check or certify medical health fitness of applicants or grantees of public transport vehicles.
The parliamentary body also discussed "The ICT Prohibition of Employment of Children Act, 2017," moved by MNA Shazia Marri, seeking to protect children and ensure that children are not employed in vocation unsuited to their age. The committee also discussed "The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017," moved by Zahra Wadood Fatemi, seeking to fix strict penalties on the people who kidnap children for using them in child beggary. The committee deferred both the bills till the next meeting.
Deputy Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) Syed Muzaffar Ali informed the committee that the authority has resolved majority of the issues taken up by the members of the committee including provision of mobile registration vans (MRVs) for issuance of computerised national identity cards (CNICs).
On this the committee appreciated performance of the NADRA and rescinded the orders of the committee to remove Ehtisham Shahid, PSO to chairman, from his post after making him an OSD and initiation of departmental inquiry against him. The deputy chairman further told the committee that the authority has set up two mega centres for issuance of CNICs in Karachi and work on the third one is near completion in the same city. Each mega centre has the capacity of issuance of 1,000 CNICs per day, he said, adding that the NADRA has also set up mega centres in the other cities including Islamabad.
MNAs Syed Javed Ali Shah, Ghalib Khan, Mian Shahid Hussain Khan Bhatti, Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Khial Zaman Orakzai, Dr Arif Alvi, Kanwar Naveed Jameel, Naeema Kishwer Khan, Sher Akbar Khan, Zahra Wadood Fatemi and Shazia Marri, and senior officials of the Ministry of Interior, NACTA, NADRA and district administration also attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017