Operation against terrorists, their facilitators to be expedited: COAS

Offers full support for holding PSL final in Lahore; lauds intelligence agencies for arresting suspects, including Afghans

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Wednesday that operation against terrorists and their facilitators would be expedited.

He appreciated efforts of intelligence agencies in tracing culprits of Monday night blast, which resulted in important arrests overnight, including a few Afghans. He ordered for expediting efforts to unearth the complete network.

The COAS said the army would extend full support to all concerned for holding the forthcoming Pakistan Super League’s final match in Lahore as scheduled.

The COAS has approved a grand combing operation in south Punjab after taking the provincial government into confidence, according to an army spokesman here on Tuesday.He chaired a crucial corps commanders meeting at the General Headquarters, Rawalpindi.

During the meeting, the army chief was briefed about the suicide blast in Lahore.It was also decided in the corps commanders meeting that strict action would be taken against all those outfits that have become operational after changing their names.

Meanwhile, General Qamar Bajwa visited Lahore on Tuesday and chaired a security meeting at the Corps Headquarters, according to an ISPR statement.Commander Lahore Corps Lt-Gen Sadiq Ali and intelligence agencies briefed him about the suicide attack in the city on Monday.

The COAS said such incidents could neither lower our national resolve nor affect the ongoing efforts against terrorism. He said terrorists of all hue, their masters, financiers, planners and abettors including from outside would be hunted across the country, held accountable and responded to. “Our gains over the years cannot be reversed,” he said.

Later, the COAS visited the bereaved family of Shaheed DIG Mobeen and offered Fateha.Talking to the mother of the Shaheed, the COAS said the sacrifice of his brave son would not go waste. “We have to defeat this inhuman, brutal mindset and as a nation we shall.”

He also expressed his grief and condolences with other bereaved families of the Monday night blast.The COAS also visited the injured at the Services Hospital in Lahore.