Pakistan only country facing terrorist attacks from Afghanistan, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Defence told the National Assembly on Thursday that Pakistan remains bulwark against terror emanating from Afghanistan as currently it is the only country fighting the onslaught of terrorist organisations based in Afghanistan such as Fitna Al Khawarij and Daesh as no other country has been as affected due to Afghan predicament as Pakistan.

The ministry presented a report in the lower house of the Parliament on the current internal and regional security situation. According to it Pakistan has faced more than 90,000 causalities, $152 billion direct losses and $450 billion indirect financial impact.

The report was presented in reply to a question of Javed Hanif Khan who had sought details of current internal and regional security situation in the country, and how the regional geopolitical imperatives are affecting country’s security, and the steps taken by the government in that regard.

The report stated that the interim Afghan government was taking selective actions against some terrorist organisation like Islamic State and East Turkistan Islamic Movement to assuage the security concerns of major powers, while allowing others such as Fitna Al Khawarij to operate with impunity and, in cases, actively abetting them.

The report stated that situation in Afghanistan has substantially enhanced liberty of action for terrorists to strike trans-frontier coupled with access to sophisticated United States military equipment left behind in Afghanistan.

The report counted the major response measures:

Security Domain. To secure Pak-Afghan border, over 2,200 kilometers of the border has been fenced.

Around 1,300 border forts and posts are constructed along the Pak-Afghan border to complement the fence. Besides security borders, operations in the Rear Areas are also being conducted to root out menace of terrorism.

It stated that main focus remains on intelligence-based operations to neutralise/ apprehend terrorists and their facilitators.

Socio-Economic Domain. To address issues of locals, especially in the newly merger districts (erstwhile Fata), lot of effort and resources have been invested.

Over last 10 years, other than infrastructure development, focus has remained on education and health projects.

The efforts are also being made to provide jobs to the locals in their native areas to prevent them from falling prey to Al Khawarij’s nefarious propaganda.