PM vows to fight menace of terrorism
PESHAWAR:PAKISTAN’S political and military leaders met in Peshawar on Friday to discuss responses to what the prime minister called a “new wave of terrorism,” four days ater a mosque blast killed more than 100 people in the city.
“The whole nation wants to know how to counter this menace and what measures can be taken to eliminate this new wave of terrorism,” Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in his opening remarks to military and intelligence command staff at the meeting.
“We will use all resources in our capacity to fight this menace,” he added.
Shahbaz has also convened a multi-party conference (MPC) to discuss “important challenges” being faced by Pakistan, and has also, among others, invited Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan to the moot.
The move is being seen as a significant development amid rising political temperatures.
PTI secretary general Asad Umar said that Imran will not atend the MPC.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced that the MPC will be held in Islamabad on Feb.7, for which an invitation has also been extended to Imran.
The invitation to the PTI was formally delivered to Pervez Khatak and Asad Qaiser by former speaker and federal minister, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
The minister has also asked the PTI to nominate two representatives who would atend a meeting of the provincial apex commitee, which was formed in 2015 following the Army Public School (APS) atack, to oversee the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism and comprises all stakeholders, including law enforcement and intelligence officials.
An official announcement said that the situation developing in the wake of the Jan.30 atack on Peshawar’s Police Lines and the upgradation of police and Counter-terrorism Department’s capabilities would come under discussion in the apex commitee meeting.
oa
dP Meanwhile, troops raided a militant hideout in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban militant group, in the country’s northwest and near the border with Afghanistan, the military said.
The raid triggered a shootout that killed two militants.
The military said the militants killed in the raid had been involved in past atacks on security forces, without providing details. Such raids, most oten against the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehrik-e-taliban Pakistan or TTP, are routine in the country’s northwest.