Govt working on a mechanism to trace financial links of terrorist outfits: SC told

Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf told the Supreme Court that the federal government is going beyond the recommendations of the Justice Qazi Faez Isa inquiry commission and is working on a mechanism to trace the financial links of terrorist outfits.

The SC bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, is following up on the critical Quetta Commission report, authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
The government has already allocated budget and human resources for countering all forms of terrorism, in addition to measures such as safe city surveillance projects, satellite systems and geo-fencing, he said.
However, the AG has sought from the court to expunge the report’s observations about former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, specifically the lines regretting his Oct 21, 2016 Punjab House meeting with Ahmed Ludhianvi, the head of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, MI and ASWJ. The court assured the AG that they would consider his request in this regard.
Mr Ausaf also assured the apex court that the National Counter­terrorism Authority (Nacta), which was connected with all provinces, would implement the recommendations of the commission and would complete work on a centralised database of terrorists over the next 18 months.
This will enable the police of Balo­chistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to identify or trace culprits through the centralised sharing of fingerprints, in addition to monitoring border movement. He said the government was also working to ensure strict monitoring of different madressahs around the country, as well as developing provisions to provide educational alternatives at close proximity to religious seminaries.