Terror perpetrators will be brought to justice: Army

RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir said Tuesday the Peshawar mosque suicide blast — that took at least 100 lives — could not shake the nation’s zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. The army chief’s statement came as he chaired the 255th Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) at the General Headquarters (GHQ) a day after the suicide blast in Peshawar’s Police Lines area.

At the same time, the top political leadership has also called for a consensus to launch a nationwide operation for rooting out terrorism and nip it in the bud before the country goes back to an era when daily blasts took several lives. The attack was the deadliest in a decade to hit the restive city near the Afghan border and comes amid a surge in violence against law enforcement agencies. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the massive blast.

Addressing the corps commanders conference, COAS General Asim Munir said, “Such immoral and cowardly acts cannot shake [the] resolve of the nation [but] rather reinvigorate our determination to succeed in [the] ongoing war against terror with zero tolerance for any terrorist entity.”

The conference, presided over by the army chief, was briefed in detail about the ongoing intelligence-based operations being undertaken by the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for breaking the nexus between terrorists and their support mechanism across the country.

The top army brass also paid rich tributes to the martyrs of Peshawar Police Lines blast and vowed that perpetrators will be brought to “exemplary justice”.

While addressing the meeting, the COAS directed all the commanders to continue to focus on anti-terrorism operations in coordination with intelligence and LEAs with “renewed resolve till the time we achieve sustainable peace”.

During the 255th CCC, the forum was also briefed on the prevailing and emerging threats and the situation in the Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The forum, taking notice of human rights violations and Indian design to alter the demographics of IIOJK, reaffirmed the army’s commitment to Pakistan’s principled support to the indigenous freedom struggle of brave Kashmiri people as per the relevant UN resolutions.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told the National Assembly on Tuesday “our desire to be an instrument of superpowers is very old. Pakistan is alone in the war against terrorism.”

Condemning the disastrous suicide bombing inside a Peshawar mosque, which claimed at least 100 lives and injured over 220 people, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stressed the need for a national consensus just like the one reached for operation Zarb-e-Azb against terrorism across the country.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, he said while the tragedy of the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, which occurred on 16th December 2014 claiming the lives of about 150 innocent students, teachers and non-teaching staff of the school, had not been forgotten, another incident of terrorism happened in the country.

“A successful war was fought against terrorism from 2010 to 2017,” the federal minister said, adding that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government, which was ruling the country, eliminated the menace of terrorism. “Several APS-like incidents occurred in KP [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa],” Asif said, adding that the terrorism devoured numerous precious lives.

Refererring to the banned terror organisations, the defence minister said that the house (lower house of parliament) was told around two years ago that negotiations could be held with “these people” but any conclusive decision could not be made on the matter. He came down hard on Imran Khan-led government for its insistence on dialogue with the proscribed outfits.

Stressing the need for national unity, the minister said that “we sowed the seeds of terrorism ourselves”.

Emphasizing the need for developing a national consensus for launching an anti-terror operation like Zarb-e-Azb, launched on June 15 in 2014 following a brazen attack on Karachi airport, the minister said that National Security Committee (NSC) would decide about the action against the terrorist organisations.

He added that yesterday’s Peshawar massacre was no less than the APS tragedy. “Massacre of people in the mosque neither happens in India nor in Israel,” he further said.

“We need to put our house in order,” the federal minister said, adding, “It is not the war of any sect or class but the whole nation.”

“Our desire to be an instrument of superpowers is very old. Pakistan is alone in the war against terrorism,” the defence minister said.

Asif said while he was supportive of good relations with the United States, Pakistan shouldn’t fight the war at Washington’s behest and in its interest.

Commenting on Afghanistan situation, he expressed the desire for the country to improve and stay peaceful, as “it will also reflect in Pakistan”. He added, “We want betterment of Afghanistan. Peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan are interlinked.”

Following the Afghan war, the minister said, the Afghans who came to Pakistan and never left. “Some 450,000 Afghans came to Pakistan in the last four years and did not return [to Afghanistan].” At the same time, he added: “I can’t say how many of them are terrorists.”

Lamenting the state of security, he said the country has been witnessing bloodshed for the last several years.

“These people were brought back to Pakistan and settled here,” Asif said censuring the return of militancy in the country. According to the defence minister, dollars were laundered to Afghanistan despite a shortage in Pakistan. “We bought coal from Afghanistan in Pakistani rupees and in return, they bought dollars and laundered it to Afghanistan.”

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, while briefing the lower house of parliament on the Peshawar attack, said that the rescue operation had been completed and all the debris from the site had been lifted.

He added that the Khorasani group of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the brutal suicide attack. He further said that 27 of the injured are critical, which means the death toll is expected to rise beyond the current 100. Condemning the attack, he said, “This attack is against Pakistan and its 22 crore people.”

Reacting to the comments of dissident PTI lawmaker Noor Alam Khan, who accused the forces of prejudice against the Pakhtuns, the security czar said that he understood and “surrendered” to the feelings of his fellow parliamentarian but “rejected” the accusations of prejudice levelled by him.

“There is no discrimination between Lahore and Peshawar,” he said, adding, “All of Pakistan has been victimised and every Pakistani is in mourning over the [Peshawar mosque] attack.”

Acknowledging that there had been an uptick in the number of attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), he said: “The KP police, army, FC and law enforcement agencies have been sacrificing their lives every day. Recently a police station in Bannu was made hostage.” However, he added, the perpetrators of “these attacks are the enemies of Pakistan”.

In the past, Sanaullah said, there had been incidents of terrorism in Lahore which had claimed hundreds of lives. “Our investigations have found that in 99% of the incidents, suicide bombers hailed from areas outside of Punjab,” he said. “These attackers are brainwashed and then sent all over the country to incite terror.”