Ideally both Pakistan and Afghanistan governments should work together to eradicate these terrorist groups but relations seem so sour currently that I don't think there's much cooperation when it comes to intelligence sharing, joint security etc. If there is intelligence of TTP commanders inside Afghanistan and the Afghan security forces are unwilling or unable to go after them, and there is no risk of civilian casualties, then Pakistan should reserve the right to defend the security of its people and target those terrorists. Let's not be hypocritical - its the same argument the Americans use with their drone programme and most PPers are against that policy. However reality sometimes demands certain actions.
Solely focusing on this issue of Afghan border security is not enough when so many attacks originate INSIDE Pakistan. We are also focusing too much on the military aspect and neglecting the civil institutions that need strengthening to fight terror. I suggest people read as much of the Justice Isa Report that was published after the Quetta hospital bombing. Unlike NAP, there were practical recommendations that must be followed.
1) Nacta must have teeth. It is lacking trained staff, funds and authority. Nacta's OWN head Ihsan Ghani went on TV and said "There is no operational role of Nacta" ! Nacta is meant to compile data on terrorist attacks yet its own Director General admits it doesn't even do that. Nacta board of governors haven't even met once despite being legally obliged to meet every quarter.
2) Police reform and investment. I was amazed to read in the Report that the IG of Quetta police didn't even understand basic protocol in the aftermath of the Quetta terrorist attack. The crime scenes were not secured nor were they forensically examined. And sadly this incompetence is not limited to Quetta police. Whilst Punjab has a state of the art forensic lab - there is a lack of trained personnel and investigators to use them.
All police departments in Pakistan's major cities need bomb disposal equipment and access to trained personnel. Pakistani police have not moved on from the colonial era. They lack the technology needed to record data. And look at the sheer numbers. There are 179,000 police serving a population of 103 million in Punjab. In Turkey, 200,000 policemen serve 60m people. No wonder terrorists can easily cross from one province to another. In 2013, Turkey allocated $7.5 billion for its police; the Punjab police’s annual budget for the same year was $0.75bn.
Now you tell me whether you can fight a war on terror on this shoestring budget. Presently per capita police expenditure in Punjab is $7.6. In contrast, Indian Punjab spends $15.9, Turkey $135 and London $754.
3) Judicial reforms. The conviction rate is too low and there is a major backlog of cases. Judges and witnesses are often intimidated. The Protection of Pakistan Act 2015 passed by National Assembly has a provision for the witness protection and Sindh Assembly also passed a witness protection bill but these haven't been practically implemented.
4) Regulate madrassas. The ministry of religious affairs does not possess even basic data about the religious institutions in the country nor does have the capability to obtain it. There is no central bank of data, including the number of seminaries and their profiles, nor is the ministry, or ANY other authority in Pakistan, even attempting to collect it !
