No need to launch any new operation to curb terrorism: Talal

Minister says KP CM trying to create a misunderstanding about security committee meeting communiqué   Govt ready to talk only with those who have not taken up arms.

ISLAMABAD  –  The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led coalition government on Thursday ruled out the possibility of launching a new military operation to curb recent hike in terrorism in the country, empha-sizing that no such decision was taken in the crucial Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS).

The government also censured Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur advising him not to create confusion about the decisions taken in the top-level huddle held earlier this week following the Jaffar Express hijacking incident.

Addressing a press conference, State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said the chief minister KP was trying to create a misunderstanding about the communiqué issued after the moot that was at-tended by civil and military leadership.

“We will neither allow any new military operation nor any such option was ever discussed in the meet-ing (of PCNS),” he said, adding that the government and law enforcement agencies would only ensure implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and the ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ strategy to curb terrorism as mentioned in the communiqué.

Jeering at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is the ruling party in KP, he said had that party not followed the policy of resettling terrorists in the past, the country would not have faced such a situa-tion that it was facing today.

Referring to the recent statement of jailed PTI leader Imran Khan that the Jaffar Express train incident was a result of failure of intelligence and security agencies, the minister of state said the institutions in KP and Balochistan were not efficient enough to act on the intelligence provided by agencies and pro-tect the lives and properties of citizens.

He noted PTI was the ruling party in KP for the last 13 years, but it spent very little money on the pro-vincial police and counter terrorism department out of a total of Rs 800 billion it received from the fed-eration through the National Finance Commission Award. He claimed that CM Gandapur during a dis-cussion with some officers said that they need not to fight against terrorists because Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) vanished from the political scene due to their fight against terrorism. “The KP CM should issue a rebuttal if my claim is wrong,” he added.

Sharing the data about terrorism incidents, Chaudhry said the country was witnessing nine terrorist attacks daily, with three casualties of law enforcement agencies and seven personnel facing injuries. Similarly, he said two civilians were losing their lives and four facing injuries every day in such attacks.

He further said that from January 1 to March 16 this year, as many as 1,141 people either lost their lives or were injured in terrorist incidents in Pakistan. He added that 1,127 such victims were from KP and Balochistan.

He further said the country witnessed a 30 percent rise in terrorism incidents in February as compared to the same month of last year and 95 percent attacks, out of total, happened in these two provinces. “If KP and Balochistan are not ready to fight, how can we end the menace of terrorism,” he ques-tioned and said, “The provinces will have to fight this war in the same way the army and the federal government are fighting it.”

The minister of state underlined that every province would have to perform its duty in this connection, but the state has decided that this war would be fought without waiting for anyone. “Our security forces are alert, and they are conducting around 180 intelligence-based operations daily and they are arresting suspects,” he said.

Calling former prime minister Imran Khan as the “patron-in-chief of terrorists”, Chaudhry said that the jailed politician used to talk about opening an office for militants and holding a dialogue with them. “We are ready to talk only with those who have not taken up arms,” he said. He alleged that the PTI and the party’s chief minister in KP did not openly talk against militants because both thought of them as their constituency.

Responding to a question regarding why Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was not in the limelight, he said Naqvi was doing its duties efficiently and could not attend the security moot due to bad health.