Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has promised to deal with terrorists using an iron hand.
Maintains that the duty for maintaining public safety primarily lies with the provinces and places an emphasis on expanding the capacity and effectiveness of provincial governments.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) province has been plagued by terrorist attacks over the past few days. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vehemently denounced these attacks on Wednesday.
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in Bannu had been held captive for three days before 25 militants were slain the day before by the army’s elite commandos, according to a late-night statement on Tuesday from the military’s media wing.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the militants’ attempt to flee the facility after their demand for a safe passage to Afghanistan was denied was thwarted by the soldiers from the Special Service Group (SSG).
It should be mentioned that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed to have cancelled the June cease-fire agreement with the federal government and instructed its militants to carry out terrorist strikes all throughout the nation in November.
The number of terrorist attacks in K-P has increased since that time, and there have also been instances of “unprovoked cross-border shelling” by Afghan Taliban troops in the Chaman-Spin Boldak region and Afghan forces shooting rockets into Pakistani territory from across the Chaman border.
The nation “will fight terrorism by backing its military,” according to PM Shehbaz, who praised the “ample response” of the armed forces in a statement released today.
The prime minister vowed to deal with “attempts to promote disorder in Pakistan through terrorism with an iron hand” and made it clear that the government will not submit to any terrorist organisation.
Additionally, he made a special point to acknowledge those who have sacrificed their lives for the cause, especially the martyrs and the outstanding efforts of the police, rangers, and other law enforcement organisations. The statement said, “Operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad were significant steps to eliminating terrorism in the country.”
The federal government would “address the external facilitation of terrorists who disseminate and support it in Pakistan,” according to Shehbaz.
He emphasised the necessity for “collective thought and an action plan” to cope with the coming national security challenge while acknowledging the sensitivity of the situation.
“Provinces are in charge of maintaining law and order”
The prime minister stated that while the provinces had primary responsibility for maintaining law and order, the federal government cannot remain silent about these grave problems.
The premier emphasised that the National Action Plan will be completely executed to put an end to terrorism in the nation while assuring the federating units of support from the federal government.
Shehbaz reaffirmed that the centre will help to enhance the professional competence of counter-terrorism agencies in all provinces, arguing that boosting the capacity and effectiveness of provincial governments is essential to the eradication of terrorism.
He declared that the federal government will cooperate with the K-P government in conjunction to restructure its CTD and provided all facilities, including contemporary weapons, to support the department.
It is important to note that Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), criticised the administration earlier this week for “failure to cope with an uptick in terrorism.”
The former prime minister, citing recent terrorist attacks in K-P, claimed in a series of tweets that the “imported” government had failed to contain a “50 percent increase” in terrorism. He also claimed that the government had failed to deal with attacks by “security forces of a ‘friendly’ Afghan government” coming from the international Pak-Afghan border.
