By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has ordered a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking networks.
He gave the order during a meeting with newly-appointed Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Riffat Mukhtar Raja, and Director General of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), Waqaruddin Syed. Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry and Federal Secretary for Interior Muhammad Khurram Agha were also present.
The interior minister assigned the FIA head the task of formulating an effective strategy against illegal immigration.
He emphasised that those involved in this heinous crime were playing with innocent lives and must be dealt with an iron hand.
He stressed that the FIA and all law-enforcement agencies must work together to eliminate illegal spectrums and organised crime from the country.
Talal Chaudhry remarked that human traffickers deserved no leniency.
Mohsin Naqvi also issued directives to the NCCIA DG for curbing cybercrimes, stating that cybersecurity is an emerging challenge.
He said the capacity of the NCCIA would be enhanced, and officers would be sent abroad for specialised training.
Earlier, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday approved the establishment of an intelligence coordination and threat assessment centre that will work under the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta). Naqvi presided over the fifth meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) of Nacta in Islamabad.
The meeting approved the formation of the ‘National Intelligence Fusion and Threat Assessment Center (NIFTAC)’ under the NACTA.
The move is part of the federal government’s new counterterrorism framework to curb an uptick in terrorism activities in the country over the past one year, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
In the same pattern, intelligence coordination and threat assessment centres, called ‘provincial intelligence fusion and threat assessment centers (PIFTACs)’ are also being established across all provinces to enhance regional intelligence efforts.
Earlier in the past, a Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID) was formed under the NACTA to coordinate intelligence by all agencies, but the initiative couldn’t succeed after its formal launch due to the weak trust level among different intelligence agencies.
The Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry also attended the BOG meeting that was given a detailed briefing by National Coordinator Nacta Dr. Khalid Chauhan about the overall performance and plans of the authority. Addressing the meeting, Naqvi said that intelligence coordination and threat assessment centre was established after consultation with the relevant stakeholders to eliminate the menace of terrorism. He said the establishment of this institution would prove to be an important step towards achieving the real objectives of the Nacta.
