DG ISPR says army focused on rooting out terrorism, respects all political parties

RAWALPINDI, APR 25: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif on Tuesday said the army was focused on rooting out terrorism from the country and that it respected all political parties.

He expressed these views in a press conference focused on national security and terrorism — the first press briefing by Maj-Gen Sharif since his appointment as head of the military’s media affairs wing.

Situation at borders At the outset of his press conference, Maj-Gen Sharif said today’s briefing would focus on anti-terror operations conducted by the army. “We will shed light on matters pertaining to security and terrorism in the ongoing year,” he said, beginning the briefing with the situation on Pakistan’s eastern border with India and the Line of Control (LoC) — a de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. “The situation at the LoC has remained relatively peaceful after the restoration of the 2003 ceasefire agreement,” he said, but at the same time criticised India for its “fake propaganda”. New Delhi’s “fake propaganda on infiltration and technical air violations show India’s special political agenda,” he said. On the other hand, Maj-Gen Sharif said, Pakistan had allowed the United Nation’s observers complete access to the LoC. “But India has not done so. They have not given them (UN observers) access or liberty of action.” The DG ISPR said Pakistan had organised 16 trips to the LoC in the past few days, which also included the participation of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation secretary general and international media. “But no such visit was organised by India, which shows that it wishes to hide the reality of the situation in [occupied] Kashmir,” he added. Maj-Gen Sharif said India had violated the LoC ceasefire 56 times in the ongoing year, which included three violations of airspace, 22 incidents of speculative firing, six ceasefire violations and 25 technical airspace violations. Meanwhile, he added, the Pakistan Army had struck down six spy quadcopters, asserting that the “Pakistan Army is prepared to [deal with] any such attempts by India”. In the meantime, on the country’s western frontiers in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, terrorists had been trying to destroy peace, Maj-Gen Sharif said, adding that security forces, police and other law enforcement agencies remained engaged in foiling their attempts. He assured that armed forces were focused on ensuring border security in Pakistan. “In this regard, Pakistan’s forces, law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies have taken appreciable measures, tracked down terrorist networks and we continue to do so.” The DG ISPR said linkages of banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and Baloch militant groups were also proven in terrorism incidents. Anti-terror operations Sharing further details, he said 436 terrorist attacks had taken place in the country during the ongoing year, during which 293 people were martyred and 521 injured. In KP, he said, 192 people were martyred and 330 injured while 80 were martyred and 170 injured in Balochistan. Meanwhile, 14 were martyred and three injured in Punjab, he added. Similarly in Sindh, seven people were martyred and 18 injured. The DG ISPR said security forces had conducted 8,269 intelligence-based operations in the going year. In these operations, he said, 1,525 terrorists were arrested or killed. Of these operations, he said, 3,531 were conducted in KP in which 159 terrorists were killed or arrested, 119 were conducted in Punjab and 519 were conducted in Sindh. “To rid the country of terrorism, more than 70 operations are conducted daily,” he added. “It is very important to note that due to the sacrifices of the public and army, there are no no-go areas in Pakistan today,” the DG ISPR said, adding that some terrorists remained active in some areas of the country, but “they are being hunted down every day”. “Illegal weapons and ammunition have been obtained from them (terrorists) … and facilitators and planners involved in terror incidents have also been arrested and exposed,” he said. Maj-Gen Sharif said the attacks on Peshawar Police Lines and Karachi Police Office were reflective of the “nefarious intentions of terrorists” and showed that “they have nothing to do with the state or Islam”. He said banned outfit Jamaatul Ahrar carried out the attack in Peshawar on the orders of TTP and the suicide bomber who carried out the attack was identified as an Afghan citizen, hailing from Kunduz. This suicide bomber, identified as Imtiaz, was arrested from Bajaur, he added. The DG ISPR said other terrorists, who were trained by Jamaatul Ahrar and TTP’s Maulvi Abdul Baseer alias Aizam Safi in Afghanistan, were also arrested. He further said the attack was cancelled twice because of low turnout at the mosque in Police Lines before it was carried out at the third attempt. With regards to the attack on Karachi Police Office, Maj-Gen Sharif said the three terrorists who carried out the attack had been killed in retaliatory action by security forces. “And three masterminds behind this attack were also arrested.” “Arms and ammunition were seized from the custody of these terrorists,” he said, adding that they had reached Karachi via Hub. The reconnaissance of the KPO was carried out for eight months before the attack, he added. The DG ISPR said 137 security personnel were martyred and 117 injured in anti-terror operations in the ongoing year. “The entire nation salutes them for sacrificing their lives for the country. And this [also] shows that no one should have any doubt on the Pakistan army, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies commitment, resolve and ability to end the scourge of terrorism.” He also announced the arrest of banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) head Gulzar Imam, adding that the Pakistan Army’s successes in the fight against terrorism, despite internal and external challenges, were not hidden from anyone. “If Pakistan is compared to other countries, the way Pakistan fought and continues to fight terrorism has been acknowledged by the world and is unprecedented. “Our successful war against terrorism will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated,” he vowed. Maj-Gen Sharif also said that tasks undertaken as part of the western border regimen were near completion. “Fencing along the 2,611 border fencing along the Pak-Afghan frontier is 98 per cent complete,” he added. Socioeconomic uplift The DG ISPR also touched upon socioeconomic uplift and termed the Reko Diq mining project in Balochistan an “important milestone” for the province’s uplift. He recalled that Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir recently visited Gwadar, where he ordered the reallocation of a part of the army’s budget for development projects in the area. “Complete security is being provided for these schemes for their timely completion,” he added. ‘Army respects all politicians, parties’ Questioned about former army chief Gen (R) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s continued influence on the military, the DG ISPR said that everyone had their right to analysis but as far as incumbent Army Chief Gen Asim Munir was concerned, the “centre of real power” was the nation. “As far as politics is concerned, Pakistan’s army is a national army and all politicians and political parties are respectable for us. You wouldn’t want this and neither would we that the army leans towards a specific political ideology or vision or party.” The DG ISPR said that it was important to understand the rationale behind the above stance. “If you look at the world, then if any country’s army is used to favour a specific political ideology or religion or vision then it has only led to chaos in that country — this is a reality,” he added. The head of the military’s media wing said the army had a “constitutional and non-political” relationship with the government of the time and would always have so, adding that it was inappropriate to paint that link with a political colour. ‘Befitting response’ Regarding India, Maj-Gen Sharif said its “aggressive designs and baseless accusations and claims” would not change history or occupied Kashmir’s internationally recognised status. Referring to the army chief’s visit to the LoC, the DG ISPR said the COAS had sent a message in “clear words” that the army was capable of defending every inch of the country’s territory. “If need be, we can take this battle into the enemy’s territory. I also feel it important to say, if India thinks of doing any misadventure due to any miscalculation or misunderstanding, then let there be no doubt that the army will give a befitting response with national support.” Responding to a question about a possible Indian false flag operation in the words, the DG ISPR said that it was “unfortunate” that Pakistan’s internal situation carried importance in India’s domestic politics, saying there was a reason behind that so as to remove attention from the latter’s own issues. “False flag operations and doing false propaganda against Pakistan and influencing social media inside Pakistan with its facilitators has been India’s tactic and it will keep doing this.”