Terrorists to be dealt with an iron fist: PM Shehbaz

Says law and order primarily provincial responsibility, stresses increasing provincial govt capacity, efficiency

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday strongly condemned the terrorist incidents that gripped the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) over the past few days.

A day earlier, the army’s elite commandos killed 25 militants who had seized the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in Bannu, the military’s media wing said in a late-night announcement on Tuesday, ending a three-day hostage situation.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the soldiers from the Special Service Group (SSG) foiled the militants’ attempt to escape the facility after their demand to provide them a safe passage to Afghanistan was rejected.

It may be noted that in November the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had said that they had called off a ceasefire agreed with the federal government in June and ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks across the country.

Since then, K-P has seen a surge in terrorist attacks, while incidents of “unprovoked cross-border shelling” by the Afghan Taliban forces in the Chaman-Spin Boldak area and the Afghan forces firing rockets into the Pakistani territory from across the Chaman border also took place.

Read Govt to review strategy after TTP calls off truce

In a statement today, PM Shehbaz hailed the "ample response" of the armed forces saying that the nation "will defeat terrorism by supporting its forces".

Vowing to deal with "attempts to spread chaos in Pakistan through terrorism with an iron fist," the premier categorically stated that the government would not bow in front of any terrorist group.

He also made special mention of those who have given their lives for the cause, particularly the martyrs and the great sacrifices of the armed forces, police, rangers and other law enforcement agencies. "Operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad were important measures to end terrorism in the country," the statement added.

Shehbaz also said that the federal government would "address the external facilitation of terrorists who disseminate and support it in Pakistan".

Acknowledging the sensitivity of the matter he also stressed the need for "collective thinking and an action plan" to deal with the impending issue of national security.

'Provinces responsible for law and order'

The PM said that the primary responsibility for law and order lies with the provinces, but that the federal government cannot turn a blind eye to these serious issues.

Assuring the federating units of the federal government's support, the premier stressed that the National Action Plan will be fully implemented to end terrorism in the country.

Shehbaz held that increasing the capacity and efficiency of the provincial governments is crucial to the eradication of terrorism and reiterated that the centre will assist in improving the professional capacity of counter-terrorism departments in all provinces.

He said the federal government will work in collaboration with the K-P government to restructure its CTD and offered all facilities to support the department, including modern weapons.

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It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had earlier this week blasted the government for “failing to deal with an increase in terrorism”.

Citing the recent terrorist attacks in K-P, the former prime minister in a series of tweets had said that the “imported” government has failed to control a "50 percent increase" in terrorism, adding that the government has also failed to deal with attacks from the international Pak-Afghan border by “security forces of a 'friendly' Afghan government”.