Islamabad: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday announced that former Army General Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Director of Inter-Services Intelligence Faiz Hamid have resolved issues with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and clarified the matter.
The defense minister said that politicians, especially Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, asked questions in relevant briefings but were not allowed to say much.
The minister said that the federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced the launch of a new anti-terrorist operation in the country called Azm-e-Istehkam due to the terrorist incidents in recent months.
This decision was taken in a meeting of the Central Apex Committee on National Action Plan (NAP) with chief ministers of all provinces and GBs, service chiefs and provincial chief secretaries and other senior civil, military and legal officials. executive agency officer.
The operation will coordinate several efforts in an integrated and decisive way to counter the menace of extremism and terrorism, read a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
However, the Centre’s move did not sit well with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has a majority of opposition seats in the National Assembly and opposed the military operation. assembly.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar said in the lower house on Sunday, “The federal government should discuss the issue before approving it in Parliament. There is no high-level committee.”
Mirroring the PTI government, he claimed that around 5,000-6,000 TTP militants were brought back and granted asylum and amnesty during the tenure of the previous government.
Commenting on his meetings with Afghan ministers and leaders, the defense minister said he did not feel hostility or enmity towards Pakistan during his interactions with officials of neighboring countries.
The statement prompted fresh calls from Islamabad for the Taliban-led administration in Kabul to prevent the land from being used by various anti-Pakistani terrorist organizations, a charge Kabul denied.
Asif laments the history of his involvement in the war: “General Zia ul Haq and General Pervez Musharraf fought to expand their power. Gen Zia destroyed religion, social structure and society, took money and became part of the war in Afghanistan [against Russia].”
Will our soldiers continue to pay the price for wrong policies?” the minister noted.
Dealing with the problem of crowding out, he stressed the need to protect the rights of minorities in the country, noting that people have surrendered to God despite their personal enmity.
“We have drafted a resolution in the assembly against incidents of minorities protesting the PTI,” he said, referring to the NA resolution requiring the center and provinces to provide full security to members of minority communities.
The decision came after a man was killed in Swat for allegedly insulting the Quran.
Last month, a Christian man in his seventies was attacked by a mob and later died of his injuries in Sargodha, Punjab, on charges of insulting the Quran.
Meanwhile, more than 90 Christian houses and 21 churches were destroyed when hundreds rioted in the Christian community in Faisalabad’s Jaranwala tehsil last year.
