NAP discussed during Punjab apex committee meeting

LAHORE: Steps to enforce the National Action Plan (NAP) were discussed during an apex committee session presided by Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The nation stands united in the war against terrorism, Shehbaz Sharif said during the meeting held on Thursday.

Joint decisions of the civil-military leadership have yielded positive results, he said, adding that incidents of terrorism and sectarian killings have shown a sharp decline.

National Security Advisor Nasir Janjua, DG Rangers Major General Umar Farooq Burki, Corps Commander Lahore Lieutenant General Sadiq Ali and top civil and military leadership were also present in the meeting.

Pakistan is making impressive strides in its war against terrorism leading to a significant drop in violence during the last three years, a British magazine said on Thursday.

The report published by The Spectator noted that operation Zarb-e-Azb and the operation in Karachi had led to Pakistan being safer today than ever since the US-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

"Violence has not just dropped a bit. It is down by three quarters in the last two years. The country is safer than at any point since George W. Bush launched his war on terror 15 years ago," it said.

Deaths linked to violence in Pakistan decreased significantly in 2016, dropping 45 percent compared with the previous year, a report released Tuesday said.

Some 2,610 people lost their lives due to violence during the period compared with 4,647 in 2015, according to research by the Islamabad-based think tank, the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). 

Pakistan´s army launched an operation in June 2014 to wipe out militant bases in northwestern tribal areas and bring an end to a bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.