AMN / Web Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to launch biggest crackdown to wipe sectarianism from the country. Pakistan’s top civil-military leadership today approved a countrywide crackdown against sectarianism.
“It was unanimously decided during the today’s meeting of the country’s top civil-military leadership that elements challenging the writ of the state would be eliminated,” Pak interior minister Nisar told media after the apex committee’s meeting held at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad.
According to Pak media, it has been decided in the meeting that there will be zero tolerance for hate speech and hate literature, the minister said.
“There will be no tolerance for calling each other infidel or liable to be killed,” he said. “There is a very thin line between sectarianism and terrorism. They both go hand-in-hand.”
The national apex committee met in Islamabad, where key decisions taken were accorded by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.
The meeting discussed introducing fresh legislation, seeking to completely ban sectarianism and its financiers.
Registration of madrassas
About seminaries, the interior minister said the process of their would continue with consultation of their leadership.
“They will first meet with federal secretary interior and then the provincial leadership,” he said, adding ulemas should portray the narrative of Islam and Pakistan rather of those who kill the innocent.
He said a joint strategy would adopted by the federal and the provincial governments to deal with several issues, i.e. NGOs, arms licences, security companies and sectarianism.
NGOs
“It is the duty of the federal government to keep an eye on international NGOs, and regulate them while at the same time, the provincial governments are also required to regulate the local NGOs, the interior minister maintained.
Nisar said the interior ministry had prepared a regulatory policy for the NGOs in a record time of just 2.5 months after PM Nawaz had announced the government’s decision to regulate the NGOs in June 2015.
“We will issue the policy soon after sharing it with provinces to help them formulate a similar policy document to regulate local NGOs.”
He, however, clarified that regulation on NGOs does not mean putting a ban on any of the good work being done by them in the country.