Peshawar/RAWALPINDI - The Apex Committee of KP and Fata Saturday expressed complete satisfaction over progress of last phase of operation in Shawal and ongoing intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The committee, which met here under the chair of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, also reviewed resettlement and return of temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) and Pak-Afghan border management.
KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Chief Minister Parvez Khattak, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Peshawar Corps Commander Hidayat-ur-Rehman, ISPR DG Lt-Gen Asim Salim Bajwa and senior provincial and Fata Secretariat officers attended the meeting, said an ISPR press release.
Paying rich tribute to the resilience and courage of proud tribesmen, the COAS reiterated his commitment with tribal brethren to rebuild the area and revive entire socio-economic infrastructure.
“With unflinching resolve and courage, our proud tribesmen of Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and people of KP stood up to atrocities of the terrorists, pushed them back and marginalised them in the society, which deserves the highest of accolade," he said.
The COAS appreciated harmony among all the stakeholders as well as organisations involved, and directed them to expedite the pace of rehabilitation work and ensure its best quality.Since the launch of Zarb-e-Azb, majority of the TDPs are either living in tented camps or with their relatives in the downtowns of KP.
The newly appointed Governor Iqbal Zaffar Jagrah had recently said that around 200,000 TDPs have so far been sent back to their hometowns and soon the remaining 150,000 would be repatriated soon. This whole process would be completed by the end of November, he said.
The army chief underlined that this would be possible after the terrorists are eliminated and added that the operation against them was in full swing.
The meeting, held at Corps headquarters, also discussed border management at all crossing points, especially at Torkham. It decided to enforce border crossing mechanism in letter and spirit.
It also discussed the issue of extortion calls being made to people of Peshawar from Pak-Afghan border region. The forum decided to shut down illegal communication towers inside Pakistani territory. A high level delegation would soon visit Kabul to engage with Afghan authorities to seek cooperation for resolution of the issue.
The KP governor and chief minister appreciated the wholehearted support of Pakistan Army and reiterated the resolve of Fata and the provincial government to rid the province of terrorism and extremism and pave way for development and well-being of the people.
Pak Army has been fighting carrying out a massive operation against both local and foreign militants since June 2014, when talks between government and TTP failed. The Zarb-e-Azb operation was launched soon after the horrific attack on the Karachi Airport by a group of militants the same year.
Zarb-e-Azb is going well and that’s why the number of militant attacks have reduced to a great extent. The Army has destroyed militant’s hideouts in Fata. Hundreds of militants have been killed, and some have fled the area. This made possible sending back a considerable number of the TDPs within a remarkably short time.
The final phase of Zarb-e-Azb is underway in rugged mountains of North Waziristan Agency. The Army has taken control of nearly 95 percent of tribal areas.
It is now evident enough that militants’ backbone has been broken and that’s why they have started attacking on soft targets like that of bombing a bus in Peshawar and the most recent suicide attack at Lahore’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal which left 77 people dead and over 300 injured.