NA informed of progress against terror funding

By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The government has revealed in the National Assembly that due to the strict interrogation policy of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), 10, 000 percent increase has been made in the terrorists’ frozen and confiscated funds in one and half years.The increase in terrorist financing was up by 480 percent and 540 percent raised in the financial inquiry.It was told in the National Assembly that the people of Punjab and Sindh had 11 lakh 42 thousand 736 weapons licenses issued by NADRA over the past three years.The government also formulated and implemented the first ever policy on financial investigations, including investigations into cases of terrorism financing, as well as parallel financial investigations of acts of terrorism to see the TF link. This policy was duty approved by the PM before being implemented. As a result, the financial investigations and prosecutions in the country have registered a phenomenal growth since June 2018. NADRA receives more than 47 billion 33 crore in fees for computerized identity cards while in the three years, the employees of NADRA were paid 43 per cent in salary and privileges. Some people have to render their lives like Hussein and some people like Shamer and Firghon, expressed State Minister ShariarAfridi in the National Assembly in response to written questions. To a question by member Chaudhry Hamid Hameed, the Inter-Provincial Ministry of Defence informed the House in a written reply that Rs 6.5 million as travel expenses has been increased on the foreign visits of Pakistan Cricket Board officials compared to last year. In response to a question from member Shams-un-Nisa, the Interior Ministry in its written response informed the House that NACTA released 664 intelligence reports on terrorism in 2018 while till November 25, 2019, 559 intelligence reports were released by the NACTA Helpline 1717. On an average 1900 calls are received daily, 597 worth of helpline in 2019, it added.