Zardari says blood of the sons of the soil won’t go in vain n Funeral prayer of martyred Pak Army officers offered at Chaklala Garrison with CJCSC Gen Shamshad, Army Chief Gen Asim Munir in attendance.

ISLAMABAD  -  While paying tributes to those mar­tyrs of Pakistan Armed Forces, Presi­dent Asif Zardari on Sunday reiterat­ed the resolve to respond to terrorist activities with full force.

He expressed these views on the occasion of funeral prayers of Lieu­tenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali Sha­heed (39), resident of Karachi, and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar Shahed (23), resident of District Tala­gang, who had got martyrdom while defending the motherland against the scourge of terrorism in Mir Ali, North Waziristan District, on Saturday last. The funeral prayers were offered at Chaklala Garrison Rawalpindi.

According to the ISPR, besides President Asif Ali Zardari, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Sahir Sham­shad Mirza, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir, senior serving military and civil officers, relatives of the martyrs and locals of the area at­tended the funeral.

“The Pakistan Army has consis­tently upheld the ideals of Faith, Uni­ty and Discipline. Guided by these enduring principles, the Pakistan Army has always endeavoured to set higher benchmarks of professional­ism and loyalty in its unrelenting fight against terrorism,” the Presi­dent said on the occasion. The Presi­dent said that the people of Pakistan and its armed forces were united and would face terrorism in uni­son. He also expressed the resolve to make the terrorists accountable for blood of each martyred jawan, adding that the brave brothers, sons and friends had been defending the country’s borders.

President Zardari resolved that the blood of the sons of the soil would not go in vain. He fur­ther said that this noble sacrifice stands as another glorious testa­ment to the unflinching resolve of our gallant sons, who have never hesitated to offer the ulti­mate sacrifice for the defence of our Motherland. The whole na­tion stands in solidarity with our Armed Forces. Later, the bodies of the martyrs were taken to their native hometowns where they were laid to rest with full military honour. Lt. Col Syed Kashif Ali and Captain Muhammad Ahmed Badar were martyred in Mir Ali, North Waziristan during a terror­ist attack on Saturday last. 

As per the Inter-Services Pub­lic Relations (ISPR), a group of six terrorists attacked the post in the early hours today with the Pakistani troops foiling their ini­tial attempt of intrusion before they rammed an explosive-lad­en vehicle into the post. This was followed by multiple sui­cide bombing attacks, which led to the collapse of a portion of a building, resulting in the martyr­dom of the brave sons of the soil.

Other soldiers martyred in the attack included Havildar Sabir (resident of District Khyber), Naik Khurshid (resident of Dis­trict Lakki Marwat), Sepoy Nasir (resident of District Peshawar), Sepoy Raja (resident of District Kohat) and Sepoy Sajjad (resi­dent of District Abbottabad).

However, security forces effec­tively engaged the terrorists kill­ing all of the six attackers.

Pakistan has witnessed an up­tick in terror activities in 2023 year, especially in KP and Ba­lochistan after the banned mili­tant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the gov­ernment in November 2022.

The ISPR said earlier this month 10 militants were killed in two separate operations by security forces in the North Wa­ziristan district. It added that Pa­kistan expected the Afghan gov­ernment to fulfil its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terrorists. Last month, a late-night attack on a police station in Dera Ismail Khan was repulsed. Gunmen had mounted an attack using heavy weapons but fled in the cover of darkness when po­lice personnel fired back.

In December last year, 23 sol­diers were martyred and more than 30 troops wounded af­ter militants belonging to the Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) stormed a compound used by the military in Dera Ismail Khan’s Daraban area. According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan wit­nessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and count­er-terror operations in 2023 — marking a record six-year high. KP and Balochistan were the primary centres of violence, ac­counting for over 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84pc of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.