National Action Plan and Counter Terrorism in Pakistan: Success and Challenges

Abstract

The Government of Pakistan announced the National Action Plan (NAP) 2014 in response to the Army Public School attack in Peshawar. The plan was clearly to fight terrorism, stop violent extremism, and improve internal security through a wide range of military, legal, and administrative measures. This study assesses the efficacy and accomplishments of NAP by examining the perceptions of 916 political science students throughout Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. The results show that a large number of people who took part in the survey agree that counterterrorism operations, intelligence coordination, and harmony between sects have all gotten better. However, many people are still neutral or have doubts about how well the plan will be carried out and what its long-term effects will be.  The results show us both the accomplishments and restrictions of NAP, emphasizing the need for continued political commitment, institutional consolidation, judicial reforms, and comprehensive ideological counter-extremism strategies to ensure the plan’s effectiveness in decreasing terrorism and promoting national security.