May 16: PILDAT has released its interim monitor on country-wide progress on the implementation of National Action Plan to counter terrorism for the period January 2015 - December 2016. The monitor is intended to scientifically measure the progress on each of the 20 points of NAP in each of the four provinces and the country as a whole. The Interim Monitor contains the working data for national and provincial progress. The Monitor has been termed 'Interim' as data on many parameters in this Monitor is incomplete, especially for provinces except Punjab. PILDAT has, therefore, not made an assessment of the progress on implementation at this stage and has not assigned the traffic lights (Green, Green-Amber, Amber-Red, Red) unlike it has done for the Monitor released a day earlier for the Punjab province.

PILDAT is in the process of collecting data from Provincial and Federal Governments to make an assessment of the progress achieved on the implementation of NAP. As far as Punjab is concerned, data received from various government agencies, including Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab and FIA Lahore, was used. In addition, data acquired through regular media monitoring as well as data shared publicly by the Federal Government was also incorporated in this Interim Monitor.

The progress on NAP has been the subject of much political debate and PILDAT's initiative is an attempt to steer it towards a fact-based discourse.

The Interim Monitor covers the first two years, 2015 and 2016, since the announcement of NAP on December 24, 2014. It may be noted that PILDAT has used data in this Interim Monitor that was shared by the Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in the Senate on March 10, 2017. PILDAT plans to issue a completed Monitor for the first two years after the data is received from the provincial and federal governments and thereafter quarterly NAP monitors will be issued in the future.

The complete text of the interim monitor can be accessed here.