No laxity in fight against terror
islamabad — Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain said on Wednesday that the armed forces were “successfully” eliminating terrorism from the country, amid mounting global pressure on Islamabad to deny safe havens to terrorists.
US President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of allowing safe havens to terrorists last month and Brics grouping named Pakistanbased terror groups as a concern for region security at their ninth summit in China this week.
Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir rejected the Brics declaration on Tuesday, saying his country has taken action against all terror groups and “only the remnants of some are left.”
President Hussain, in his message on the 52nd Defence Day on Wednesday, said the armed forces and law enforcement agencies “are successfully rooting out” terrorism from the country.
Pakistan celebrates the Defence Day to mark the 1965 war with India. The state-run ‘Radio Pakistan’ reported that the country observed the day “with a renewed pledge to defend the motherland against all threats.”
Special prayers were offered in mosques for the martyrs of the war and for Pakistan’s progress.
Pakistan’s popular former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif laid a wreath on the grave of his brother Maj Shabbir Sharif, who was killed in the 1971 war with India, in Lahore.
In his message, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said: “We can only defeat our enemies through strict adherence to the cardinal principles of unity, faith and discipline laid down by the Father of the Nation (Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah).”
Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said: “The enemy would run out of bullets but we will never be short of jawans taking bullets on their chests.”
The prime minister in his message said: “We can only defeat our enemies through strict adherence to the cardinal principles of unity, faith and discipline laid down by the Father of the Nation [Quaid-i-Azam]”.
He said Pakistan is on the path to economic development and counterterrorism operations carried out by the Pakistan Army have broken the backbone of terrorists, Radio Pakistan reported. — PTI
Counterterrorism operations carried out by the army have broken the backbone of terrorists Shahaid Khaqan Abbasi, prime minister