Indiscriminate ops to continue: COAS

ISLAMABAD: Army chief General Raheel Sharif has vowed Pakistan will continue its fight against terrorism without any discrimination and would not allow terrorists to use its soil against any other country.

The Chief of Army Staff said this on Tuesday during his visit to meet the troops engaged in combing operations in Thall, Kurram Agency. The statement was apparently aimed at dismissing Afghanistan’s concerns over Pakistan’s anti-terror fight.



The army chief was briefed by the operation commander on the security situation in the tribal agency and on the progress of the ongoing combing and intelligence-based operations, the army’s media wing said in a statement.

Gen Raheel reiterated that the operations would continue “across the board without any discrimination and Pakistan will not allow any terrorist to use its soil for terrorism against any other country”, the ISPR statement read.

He reviewed new deployments and structures made to improve border management, and also directed the officers to take stringent measures to keep a check on all cross-border movement in coordination with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan.

The army chief expressed satisfaction over the progress of combing operations and the resultant security environment. He appreciated the valour and gains made by the troops and the value the operations have brought in cleansing of the area from terrorists and their sympathisers.



“As we consolidate gains of kinetic operations in Fata, our emphasis is on rooting out all their sleeper cells and a network of facilitators from Fata and across the rest of the country,” he was quoted as saying.

The army chief was earlier received by Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Hidayatur Rehman.

Meanwhile, the ISPR said Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Rashad Mehmood left for an official visit to Russia on Tuesday. The military’s media wing said Gen Rashad in his stay in Moscow would hold meetings with senior military authorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2016.