Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting of the Central Apex Committee, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Friday.

Civil and military leadership showed up at the moot that mulled over measures to cope with the emerging challenges.

The participants pondered over the situation in wake of recent terror hits including the Peshawar Police Lines mosque massacre and the Karachi CPO Attack.

The Sindh police chief briefed the meeting about the steps taken after the Karachi CPO attack.  The participants paid tribute to the security officials for their matchless services to the motherland. They also paid homage to martyrs and heaped praise on their families.

The issue of the unavailability of funds approved for Karachi police and security officials in the past was also raised. The moot laid stress on resolving such issues at the earliest to avert any disaster.

The participants stressed that national security and public protection is a constitutional obligations that must be discharged with devotion, passion and dedication.

The meeting made the decision to provide the provinces with all-out support for maintaining law and order.

The meeting deliberated upon the role of media, particularly social media during terror attacks and security operations.

It was decided during the meeting that SOPs related to the release of details about an operation or action related to national security be formulated after consultation with all stakeholders.

There is a dire need of devising SOPs regarding reporting terror-related issues. In consultation with the media houses and all stakeholders, appropriate procedures should be formulated to avert the dissemination of misleading information and create panic among the public.

 The meeting also decided that a focal person should be assigned the responsibility to provide facts to the media and public in an emergency situation.

The meeting reviewed the progress on the implementation of the National Action Plan and the decisions made in the previous meeting.

The meeting agreed that the elimination of terrorism, economic recovery and political stability are interlinked.

National unity is the need of the hour, the participants said, adding to achieve these goals, a national consensus should be created and obstacles should be removed.

Army chief,  ministers, chief ministers, lawmakers and officials concerned attended the meeting.