Paper Title
The Implementation Gaps in Pakistan’s National Action Plan against Terrorism

Abstract
The dastardly terrorist attack on Army Public School Peshawar (2014) was an apogee-a clarion call for Pakistan to counter terrorism. A political accord, National Action Plan (NAP) reached in the wake of the attack provided a glimmer of hope that days of extremism and terrorism may finally be over. But, as time proved later, it was only beginning of a false dawn. The seeds of this blight were painstakingly sown during the Afghanistan War 1979 to mid-80s. The policies pursued then with involvement of global stakeholders, came to haunt later. The post 9/11 clamp down on extremist and terror organizations neither deterred nor made any difference. For, they survived, resurfaced and backlashed. This paper attempts to examine various prongs of NAP to ascertain its accomplishments and failures. It highlights that with the exception of limited achievements in military aspects the NAP is virtually frozen in time. Far from acting on the NAP, widespread absence of political resolve, mollycoddling with heads of proscribed organizations and uninspiring approach towards safety and security of citizens have been witnessed in the state policies. Index Terms - Counter-terrorism, extremism, militancy, reforms.