Israr Ahmad
ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI – Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan Wednesday warned that the government is not only pursuing a zero tolerance policy against terrorism but “believes in taking pre-emptive measures to prevent terrorist incidents.”
Addressing a press conference along with Islamabad Police chief Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the interior minister said terrorists will be dealt with iron fist. He, however, said efforts are being made to bring the banned TTP to the negotiation table but they will have to first set aside arms and surrender before the law and the constitution. He said the government is fully committed to purge Pakistan of the menace of terrorism.
The minister said that two terrorists, in connection with a viral video of some people claiming to attack the parliament, have also been apprehended by the law enforcement agencies. He informed that arrested terrorists threatening to attack Parliament were identified by police as Daniyal alias Zulfiqar s/o Gul Ameen and Zubair s/o Shamas ur Rehman.
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To a question, he said Afghan-interim government will be approached with a request to take action against terrorists operating on their soil.
The remarks of the minister came hours after TTP gave a direct threat to the PPP and the PML-N, the two main political parties of the ruling coalition in the centre, amid an uptick of its terror activities throughout the country. The banned group stepped up its terror attacks since its announced to end ceasefire in the end of November last year.
Rana Sanaullah said that a recent meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) devised a clear policy that there were no good or bad terrorists and no talks would be held with any outfit involved in militancy. “Whoever is involved in terrorism is a terrorist,” he underlined. He added that if the TTP decided to come under the ambit of the Constitution, then the government could hold talks with them. The minister said that NSC has outlined a clear policy that there would be “zero-tolerance” against terrorism. He said that highest level forum related to security matters also decided that no country would be allowed to provide sanctuaries and facilitate terrorist groups.
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He also said that the NSC talked about strengthening the counter terrorism departments (CTD) of all the provinces and to enhance their capability. There is also a proposal of forming a national CTD, he added.
He said that there would be no compromise on the security of the country and terrorism would be dealt with full force
The interior minister underlined that 67 percent of the attacks took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 31 percent in Balochistan during the last year, while Sindh and Punjab witnesssed 1 percent attacks each.
He said the government wanted to deal with the situation in such a manner that the TTP remains at the “lowest level” and the number of terrorist incidents decrease to a minimum level. Talking about his recent remarks regarding the Afghan Taliban, the interior minister said that he never talked about attacking Afghanistan. He clarified that if any terrorist was planning to attack Pakistan, then “we can and should engage”. He said the NSC has decided that Pakistan would only hold any talks, related to its concerns, with the Afghan government. IGP Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan speaking on his turn said the terrorist involved in Islamabad suicide bombing has been identified and its facilitators have been arrested.
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Talking about the welfare of martyrs of the law enforcement agencies, he said a cheque of ten million rupees has been handed over to martyred police constable Syed Adeel Hussain. He said an amount of 12.5 million rupees will be given to the widow to procure a house. He said salary, along with all allowances, of the martyred police constable will continue to his widow for life and pension for children below 18 years of age. Rana Sanaullah said the government has paid the outstanding amount of martyrs’ package worth one billion and 220 million rupees in one go. He said the entire nation salutes martyrs and injured security officials for their courage and sacrifices to protect lives of the common people. He said a senior police officer with a rank of SP has been deputed to solve problems of martyrs’ families.
Speaking on the occasion, IGP Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan said that four to five culprits were involved in I-10/4 attack who have been identified due to committed efforts of Islamabad Police, Rawalpindi Police and intelligence agencies. esponding to a question, he said that the police department has always rendered its duties in the best possible way and remains alert. For security of the cops, all available resources were being provided to them and were well briefed before assigning any duty, he concluded. Radio Pakistan reported late Wednesday that Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah warned that the government is not only pursuing a zero tolerance policy against terrorism but “believes in taking pre-emptive measures to prevent terrorist incidents
January 05,2023
Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/05-Jan-2023/pakistan-warns-of-pre-emptive-measures-to-stop-terrorist-attacks
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