Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said that armed forces of Pakistan have cleared FATA area and have reached Afghan border after establishing government’s writ in the North Waziristan.

He held a press conference here on Wednesday on the completion of two years of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. He informed about the progress in the military operations against terrorism. DG ISPR said that massive achievements have been made in the operations against terrorists. He said that more than 3,500 terrorists have been killed while almost 500 army soldiers have embraced martyrdom in these operations. He told that 7,500 factories producing explosives have been destroyed as well and more than 250 tonnes of explosive material has been recovered which would be enough to produce diesel for 15 years.

Pak-Afghan porous border

General Bajwa said that Pakistan shares a border of more than 2,600 kilometres with Afghanistan and most part of that border is porous with only eight security check establishments. He said that the operation started without any discrimination and is still in progress. He noted that when Operation Zarb-e-Azb started there were fears among the general population that terror attacks might increase in frequency and magnitude and the whole country might become under the threat. However, with the help of intelligence agencies that was avoided, he added. He said that more than 19,000 intelligence operations have been carried out to date and every time terrorists or militant groups were arrested, they were thoroughly interrogated and with the help of the information that the intelligence personnel obtained from them, more successful operations were carried out.

Karachi situation and Balochistan

DG ISPR also talked about the situation in Karachi and said that target killing have reduced markedly and law and order situation is a lot better as well. He told that more than 1,200 terrorists have been arrested from Karachi. He also mentioned Balochistan and said that an entire network of National Directorate of Security (NDS) was apprehended from the province. NDS is the primary foreign and domestic intelligence agency of Afghanistan.

TDPs

Speaking on the issue of Temporarily Dislocated People (TDP), he said that the efforts to ensure safe return of TDPs are underway. He informed that 61 per cent of TDPs have already returned to their homelands and the rest are in the process to return home. On the issue of recent skirmishers on Afghan border, he said that the decision to construct fence gate at the Pak-Afghan border was taken jointly by the government and military. He reiterated the risks posed by the porous border between the two countries and said that many terrorists have passed through this channel and executed terror attacks on Pakistani soil. He noted one incident where three militants entered Pakistan through Torkham and rented three houses in Pakistan from where they planned and later carried out terror attacks.

Terror attacks do not mean failure of Zarb-e-Azb

He insisted that the terrorism incidents cannot be taken as a failure of the operation by any means. He said that military operations have achieved enormous successes and are still being carried out to completely rid Pakistan of the menace of terrorism.