Against the backdrop of the deteriorating security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and massive street protests that ensued, Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) has decided to form an apex panel at the central level under the chairmanship of the prime minister to deal with the growing incidents of unrest in Swat and other parts of the country. It has also been decided to fully revive the National Counter Terrorism Authority. The NSC reviewed the law and order situation in Swat where people took to the streets against rising violence in the valley after a school van was attacked, leaving the driver dead and two children injured earlier this week. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said recent talks with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remained inconclusive and “bore no concrete outcomes”, but added that armed forces were fully capable of containing any threat to national security.
