*MUNICH: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa said thatvery few countries have achieved as much success as Pakistan has in the waragainst terror.*

Addressing Munich Security Conference, COAS Bajwa said that the country hasbeen instrumental in the disruption and decimation of Al-Qaeda fromAfghanistan and Pakistan.

The Army Chief went on to say that more than 35,000 Pakistanis have losttheir lives in the war against terrorism and over 48,000 are criticallywounded or disabled whereas the financial cost is exceeding US $250 billionwhich is shared fractionally by the global partners.

“I can say with pride and conviction that there are no organized terroristcamps on our side of the border. However, presence of terrorists of varioushues and colours cannot be ruled out. We still have their active andsleeper cells, who are hiding in mountains, border towns and 54 refugeecamps, besides some major towns and cities, he added.”

He said that out of the last 131 terrorist attacks in our border areas lastyear, 123 were conceived, planned and executed from Afghanistan.

“We understand their predicament therefore we do not blame them, butinstability in Afghanistan is also hurting us badly – and it is happeningdespite the presence of the most powerful alliance in Kabul,” the COAS said.

COAS further said that after spending more than 1.4 trillion, the situationcan best be described as a stalemate. But to my reckoning the cause ofstalemate is not only the Haqqani Network or Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan(TTA), as they had almost been defeated 13 years ago; it was the pursuit ofa wrong strategy which led to their resurrection.

“Let me say that the popular assertion of TTA not being defeated intotality due to presence of part of their leadership in Pakistan, is notcorrect or whole truth. We defeated Al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan andJamat-ul-Ahrar, while their safe heavens still exist in Afghanistan at amere fraction of resources employed on the other side of the border. Nowinstead of blame games, it is time for NATO and allies to conduct an auditand introspection to find out causes for this stalemate,” he said.

He added, “In our war against terror, military operations were not the onlything that we conducted. We realized very early that the complex problem ofviolent extremism could not be handled through military operations only.First and foremost, we generated public opinion to defeat the terrorists’narrative. We also formulated the National Action Plan, aimed at fightingterrorism and gradually rooting out extremism. We launched OperationRadd-ul-Fasaad in 2017, we the aim of:

Firstly, targeted kinetic and enhanced law enforcement operations to locateand destroy the residual terrorist presence across the country.Second prongof our campaign, comprises supporting the National Action Plan, thatinvolves better prosecution, policing, education reforms, along withcurbing terror financing and hate speechEqually important is ourinformation prong aimed at discrediting the terrorist ideology includingthe misuse of the terms like Jihad and Caliphate. Most recently, 1854eminent Pakistani religious scholars, representing all schools of thoughtswithin Islam, teamed up to issue a resounding fatwa against violence,extremism and terrorism in the name of religion. Called the Message ofPakistan, it bans suicide bombing and jihad, other than the one sanctionedby the State.

The COAS stated that successes have been made possible by the collectiveresolve and resilience of the nation but it is his sincere belief thatPakistan’s lasting domestic peace hinges on peace and stability inAfghanistan, despite limited resources.

“We are trying our best to export peace to our neighbors in the west.Please remember, at times our efforts are curtailed by capacity and not bywill,” he said.

He added that Pakistan and Afghanistan are sovereign countriesand both havea right to peace and progress but this will only be possible if ourrespective soils are not used against each other. In this regard, twoaspects are important:-

Firstly, Pakistan still has nearly 2.7 Million Afghan refugees in thecountry, whose concentrations are routinely used by TTA and Haqqani Networkto recruit, morph and melt. It is time for these refugees to berepatriated with dignity. It is the only way that Pakistan can ensure thatno one is misusing its hospitality and soil for mischief in the neighboringcountry. He added, “This is possible at a fraction of the cost of war inAfghanistan, which is currently around $ 46 Billion per year.”

COAS said, “Secondly, our border with Afghanistan is highly porous. Wehave unilaterally taken many steps to ensure proper management of thisborder. We gave raised tens of new border specific units, built hundredsof new border.”

The army chief added, Intelligence agencies of multiple countries haveconfirmed the on-going relocation of fleeing Daesh fighters to Afghanistan.

“So far we have been successful in denying any foothold to Daesh inPakistan, but we are very concerned about its unchecked growth in theneighborhood. We need to counter the threat much more proactively throughcollaboration and cooperation,” he said.

He went on to say that the war against terrorism and extremism will takesome time before the world is free of it, therefor we all have to bepatient and remain steadfast. He said, “We need to first counter terrorist’narrative with a superior narrative before breaking their back.Unfortunately, we have not done enough in this regard. Finally, trust,cooperation and sharing will work, scapegoating won’t.”

COAS Bajwa said terrorists thrive on divisions and feed on our inability tocome together against them. He called upon all to deny them these chinks inour collective armour.

“Please realize that it’s a global problem and needs a global approach.Lack of focus and commitment and individual efforts won’t take usanywhere,” he said.

He said that he had the honour of commanding an Army, which has achievedgreat successes, against violent extremism and terrorism.

The Army Chief stated that Jihadism is a misnomer. Jihad is a highlyevolved concept that underlines myriad struggles against tyranny of alltypes. Muslims are taught that control of self is the most elevated form ofJihad.

He added, “There is also a saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace BeUpon Him) that ‘the best of Jihad is a word of truth in the face of atyrant ruler’.”

Bajwa further said, ‘Qitaal’, or aspect of ‘armed jihad’ comes at thelowest end of the spectrum of actions and beliefs that comprise the conceptof jihad and can only be sanctioned by a State authority and nobody else.

COAS stated that that a powerful concept such as jihad, can easily bemisused for propagating extremism or terrorism.

“Particularly, as many Muslims, world over, are not only feeling alienated,but disowned, targeted and devoid of positive expression. Same is true forthe concept of caliphate which is more of a nostalgic response rather thanactual possibility for most Muslims,” COAS said.

The Army Chief stated, “The notion of caliphate has not found any traction,but jihad has definitely been used to radicalize fairly large tracts ofpopulation. However, this phenomenon is not a recent creation or startedafter 9/11.”

He also said that ‘the Frankenstein’ was actually created by the liberalfree world, with willing, but myopic cooperation from our side after theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Therefore, we all are responsiblefor making the world population in general and Muslim population inparticular, hostage to this extremist ideology.

COAS added, “Times have surely changed since the noon of March 10, 1982,when, President Ronald Reagan, dedicated the March 22nd launch of theColumbia Space Shuttle to the valiant Afghan Mujahedeens or Jihadis andtermed their struggle against the Soviet occupation forces as arepresentation of `man’s highest aspirations for freedom’.”

The Chief of Army Staff also said that Pakistan was as normal a country asany other on the earth he was young.

“Jacqueline Kennedy flew to Karachi, the Beatles visited us, QueenElizabeth went to the Khyber pass to chat with the tribesmen. We were afavourite tourism destination for many. We were hosting world cups ofhockey and cricket, besides many other multi-national events,” he said

“World Bank termed Pakistan in 1963 as one of the most progressive anddynamic developing country in Asia,” he said.

The COAS further remarked that that 1970s were nothing less than a disasterfor Pakistan, but even the separation of the Eastern part of our countryand the political upheavals thereafter, did not change the society asdeeply as the events of 1979, the year the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistanand the Iranian revolution.

“It was only then that we started learning that we were not only Muslims,but were Sunnis and Shias. It was also the time that we were drawn toconviction of fighting Soviet invasion and also challenging communistideology,” he said.

He said that a syllabus was designed in one of the western university forseminaries wherein jihad was fed to young minds in a concentrated dosewithout context or explanation with the able intellectual assistance offree world.

“An exception was created, using a ‘self defence’ clause to justifydeclaration of jihad by Non State Actors. Young men were recruited from allover the world, radicalized and then left and disowned after they haddelivered us, the success,” he said.

He said that the country is harvesting what we sowed 40 years back. So itwill be a while before this scourge is eliminated in totality – but first,it should not be called Jihadism as it is nothing else but terrorism.