Pakistani Prime Minister Admits Progress Slow On Plan Against Militants

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has pledged further action to combat militants just days after a Taliban faction killed 21 people in an attack against a university.

But Sharif admitted progress has been slow in “certain areas” of the government’s National Action Plan against extremism.

The National Action Plan was launched after a December 2014 school assault in which Taliban militants killed some 150 people, most of them children.

It has included the empowerment of military courts and the resumption of executions after a six-year moratorium on capital punishment.

Those initiatives have been credited with making 2015 the least deadly year in terms of militant attacks since the formation of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) in 2007.

Sharif said Pakistan and Afghanistan have an agreement that both countries will not allow militants to use their territory to launch attacks on each other.

But he said “there are certain elements in Afghanistan who on their own are attacking Pakistan.”

Pakistani officials have said the January 20 university attack was orchestrated from Afghanistan.

They have arrested five Pakistani suspects.

Based on reporting by AFP and Dawn.com