PHOTO: AFP
As Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday congratulated his compatriots and the armed forces on completion of the first year of the military operation codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared 2015 as ‘the year of victory’ against terrorists.
In a statement issued by the PM House, PM Nawaz said Zarb-e-Azb is a manifestation of the resolve to root out terrorism from the country.
“Those who are fighting on this dangerous front are sacrificing their today for the better future of the nation and on this day, the whole nation expresses solidarity with them,” the statement quoted him as saying.
Nawaz said the whole nation is thankful to the mothers, sisters and wives who sacrificed their sons, brothers and spouses to purge the country of terrorism.
“The nation will always remember their sacrifices due to which Pakistan is successfully eliminating terrorism and heading towards progress,” he said.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the offensive against militants in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) had entered its final phase and the year 2015 was the year of victory.
“The operation Zarb-e-Azb is in its final stages and the country will soon usher in a new era of peace and prosperity,” he said in a statement.
“The nation is indebted to the martyrs of the armed forces. We pay them great respect for sacrificing their today for the nation’s future,” he added.
The NWA was considered a hotbed of homegrown militants and their foreign cohorts. A full-scale military offensive was launched there on June 15 last year after months’ long efforts to strike a peace deal with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and its affiliates failed following a brazen attack on Karachi airport.
A day earlier, the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, had said 2,763 suspected militants were killed in the military offensive while as many as 347 officers and soldiers had embraced ‘shahadat’ in the battle against terrorism.
The ISPR director general, Major General Asim Salim Bajwa, in a series of tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitter said terrorists’ strongholds, their communication infrastructure and sanctuaries had been largely cleared in the areas.
The ISPR chief said significant achievements in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas including the NWA and Khyber Agency were made since the start of the operation. “The operation moves to the last few pockets close to the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said.
Since the start of the full-scale military offensive, there has been a considerable improvement in the overall security situation of the country, barring a few major attacks such as massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, last year.
The military had recently announced that as a result of ‘significant achievements’ due to the operation Zarb-e-Azb, the focus would now be shifted to urban centres to flush out militants.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2015.
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