ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Army has fought the World’s largest counter terrorismwar with deployment of over 202,000 soldiers in the tribal areas ofPakistan.
Briefing the media Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Faisal said theongoing counter-terrorism operation Raddul-Fassad which was launched byPakistan military last year eliminated terrorists especially thosebelonging to Tehreek-i-Taiban Afghanistan (TTA) and Haqqani Network (HN).
“Actions against HN include rooting out of terrorist camps in Waziristan,blocking medical assistance to terrorists & breaking their financing &training camps,” he said.
Faisal said Pakistan continued to prevent suspected TTA and HN elementsfrom using its soil for any terrorist activity in Afghanistan.
He said that 27 individuals suspected of belonging to TTA and HN werehanded over to Afghanistan in November 2017.
Faisal also alleged that “tensions and escalation by India at the Easternborder adversely impact our counterterrorism efforts”.
Pakistan has deployed 202,000 troops for action against militants, thelargest counter-terrorism deployment.
Faisal said effective border management remained one of Pakistan’s primeobjectives in preventing cross-border terrorism.
“Pakistan has 975 border posts to man Pak-Afghan border; Afghanistan has218,” he said.
He said Pakistan was keen to assist the Afghan government whilehighlighting that on the southern side of the border, “a stretch of 648 kmhas no check post on the Afghan side”.
“Large swathes of ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan are leaving a vacuum forsafe havens and terrorist sanctuaries to flourish and launch attacks onPakistan. Incidence of crossborder terrorist attacks from Afghanistan hasincreased since 2016, and peaked to 417 in 2017,” he said.
The spokesman also said that “Pakistan continues to share intelligence withmore than 70 countries” and has lost 75,000 civilians and 6000 soldiers tothe scourge of terrorism.
He said Pakistan had one of the highest officer-tosoldier casualty ratesglobally.
Faisal also said his country had suffered economic losses worth USD 123billions in the war against terrorism.
He also mentioned the recent fatwa jointly issued by 1,829 highly qualifiedreligious scholars, condemning terrorism and declaring it contrary to theteachings of Islam.
“The fatwa outlaws the use of force by individuals or groups to take uparms against state for imposition of Sharia.
The Fatwa also prohibits Pakistani citizens from violating territorialboundaries in the name of helping other armed groups and struggles outsidePakistan, offering intellectual and practical training and recruitment ofterrorists,” he said.