RAWALPINDI, April 17 (APP): Director General Inter Services
Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Monday
divulged details about recovery of a young medical student Noreen
Leghari from Lahore.
Addressing a press conference, he said Noreen Leghari went
missing from Hyderabad and afterwards she posted on social media
that she had joined Daish (ISIS).
Later her parents appealed to the Chief of Army Staff General
Qamar Javed Bajwa, who subsequently issued instructions to the
Military Intelligence to find the girl.
In response to the directions, the intelligence organization
spotted the girl residing in a house located in Lahore and started
monitoring.
In the meantime, it was learnt that the girl would detonate
herself at some church during the Easter celebrations on April 15.
Therefore an intelligence based operation was carried out on
April 14 and the girl was recovered to avoid possible attack on the
church, thus successfully averting a massive disaster.
In a message aired during the press conference, Noreen Leghari
told that she was taken to Lahore for suicide bombing.
Answering a question, Major Gen Asif Ghafoor informed that
Noreen Leghari was recovered from Lahore and she did not go to Syria
as was falsely projected through an electronic post.
“Our effort is that she goes back home to live a normal life.”
In the light of this incident, he advised the parents to be
vigilant about the activities of their children, especially while
they were using information technology, particularly social media.
The ISPR Director General said,”Creating a stable, peaceful and
normalized Pakistan with terrorists’ freedom of action considerably
curtailed through a comprehensive approach of consolidating gains in
the western zone, clearing terrorists support base, illegal weapons
and explosives control in the country, will restore public
confidence.”
Giving details about achievements in the operation RUF, he said
since February 20, 15 major operations and 4,535 intelligence-based
operations (IBOs) were carried out, besides setting up of 723
joint check posts across the country by law enforcement agencies.
He said some 4,510 suspects and 1,859 unregistered
Afghan nationals were apprehended.
During the operation, he said 4,083 weapons and 622,191
ammunition were recovered.
He said 558 miscreants and feraris, who surrendered before the
security forces, had been handed over to the quarters concerned for
further necessary action.
Additionally, he said, 108 terrorists were killed during
exchange of fire in various operations.
Giving province-wise details, he said in Punjab, two major
operations were launched while 2,692 IBOs were conducted, 625 joint
check posts were set up, 3139 criminals were apprehended, 345
unregistered Afghans were held, 1,088 weapons and 121,090 ammunition
were recovered, and 17 terrorists were killed.
In Sindh, one major operation was carried out, 335 IBOs were
conducted, 21 joint check posts were established, 157 suspects were
arrested, 620 unregistered Afghans were held, 165 weapons and 8,324 ammunition were seized, and 52 criminals surrendered while eight
terrorists were killed.
In Balochistan, four major operations were carried out, 261
IBOs were conducted, 13 joint check points were established, 283
criminals were apprehended, 692 unregistered Afghans were taken
into custody, and 1,231 weapons and 10,402 ammunition were recovered.
He said 487 criminals surrendered while 10 terrorists were put
to death.
In FATA and KP, eight major operations were undertaken, 1,247
IBOs were conducted, 64 joint check posts were established, 931
criminals were detained, 202 unregistered Afghans were held and 1,599
weapons and 482,375 ammunition were seized.
He said 19 criminals surrendered before the security forces
while 73 terrorists were killed in the ongoing operations.
The ISPR DG said former TTP commander, Ehsanullah Ehsan, who
had joined Jamaat ul Ahrar (JUA), had surrendered before the
security forces.
He said the surrender of commander of a banned terrorist
outfit spoke volumes about the successes and achievements of
the operation RUF.
He said the Pakistan Army, intelligence agencies and law
enforcement agencies with the help and support of the entire nation
had been successfully carrying out the operations against “fasadis”.
The ISPR DG also divulged details about the recovery of a young
medical student, Noreen Leghari, from Lahore.
He said Noreen Leghari went missing from Hyderabad and
afterwards she posted on social media that she had joined Daish
(ISIS).
Later her parents appealed to Chief of the Army Staff General
Qamar Javed Bajwa, who subsequently issued instructions to the
Military Intelligence to find out the girl.
Following the COAS directives, the intelligence organization
spotted the girl residing in a house located in Lahore and started
monitoring.
In the meantime, it was learnt that the girl would detonate
herself at some church during Easter celebrations on April 15.
Therefore, an intelligence based operation was carried out on
April 14 and the girl was recovered to avoid possible attack on the
church, thus successfully averting a massive disaster.
During the press conference, a video statement of Noreen was
showed, in which, she said, she was taken to Lahore for suicide
bombing.
Answering a question, Major Gen Asif Ghafoor said Noreen
Leghari was recovered from Lahore and she did not go to Syria
as was falsely projected through an electronic post.
“Our effort is that she goes back home to live a normal life.”
In the light of this incident, he advised the parents to be
vigilant about the activities of their children, especially while
they were using information technology, particularly social media.
Giving a brief on major operations undertaken by the security
forces, the ISPR DG said in Dera Ghazi Khan, 10 terrorists, who had
announced to disrupt the census exercise, were killed in a
cross fire while two Rangers presonnel embraced martyrdom.
In another operation in Chaman, security forces received
a report about the use of a vehicle laden with improvised explosive
devices.
An operation was conducted and 120 kg explosives laden on the
vehicle were seized. The seizure helped avert a possible terror attack
in Quetta thus saved the metropolis from big destruction.
In Loralai, FC Balochistan seized huge quantity of landmines
while in Orakzai, the forces also recovered a huge cache of arms and
ammunition, besides dismantling a network of underground tunnels.
Maj Gen Ghafoor noted that in terms of crime rate and target
killings, every year was better than the previous one in Karachi.
After completion of the military operation in the country,
particularly in FATA, he said development projects, including building
of schools, health projects and water supply schemes, were launched
out to help improve overall living conditions of the people.
In FATA, now 1,100 students were getting education in Army
Public Schools (APS) while in Balochistan, 545 students were
studying in APS.
He said 4,375 children were living in Pakistan Army managed
hostels in Chamalang area and in Swat, 700 children were receiving
education in a modern Army Public School.
He said 82 cadets from FATA were getting training in Pakistan
Military Academy while 223 youth of Balochistan were also sent to
the military academy.
In the last four years, 416 cadets from Balochistan had
joined PMA, he added.
He said 54 youth from Balochistan, 24 from FATA and 23 from
Gilgit Baltistan got commission in Pakistan Army as officers during
last year.
Giving details about ceasefire violations by India, Major
Gen Asif Ghafoor said during 2016, the adversary had committed
382 violations along Line of Control (LoC).
During the first three months of 2017, he said, India had
committed 215 ceasefire violations due to which four civilians
embraced martyrdom and 24 others sustained injuries.
Referring to the trend of increasing ceasefire violations by
India, he pointed out that the same were aimed at deflecting the world
attention from the worsening situation in held Kashmir.
He told a questioner that the Field General Court Martial had
awarded death sentence to Indian RAW agent/naval officer Commander
Kulbhushan Jhadav following all the codal procedures and on the
basis of material evidences against the culprit.
On the ongoing demographic process, he said the first phase of
census was completed in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan while in some
blocks of FATA and Azad Kashmir, the exercise would be completed
soon.
He said data collected from the census would help in profiling
and identifying foreign nationals. Such a system was being developed,
which would go a long way to help the departments concerned to
upgrade and maintain national database.
Paying tribute to the martyrs of attack on a census team in
Lahore, the ISPR DG said, “We will always remember their sacrifices.”
“Such an attack will not deter us from carrying out
national responsibilities and the census process will be completed
at all costs.”
Releasing data on the performance of military courts, he said
274 terrorists were convicted, of which 161 were awarded death sentence
and the rest were handed down rigorous imprisonment of various terms.
During the operation RUF, he said 11 executions had been carried
out while 14 others would be carried out within next few days.
Praising the role of media especially during the anti-
terrorist operations, he said those, who were doing evil, now wanted
to join the mainstream.
He said militants from different organisations had realized
that conditions in Pakistan had changed and they also realized that
they were doing something wrong.
He said coordination between institutions was improving
on the National Action Plan and it would be more better in future.
In response to a question, Major Gen Asif Ghafoor said the
international community acknowledged the significant contributions
of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.
He said no country in the world has fought terrorism as
was done by Pakistan. “Conditions in Pakistan make it evident that
we countered terrorism effectively.”
He said youth of Pakistan belonged to everybody and everyone,
including parents, had to play their role and keep an eye on their
children.
Responding to a question, he said Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) was a physical threat but ISIS was targetting minds of the
youth with the Internet technology.
He urged the media to run awareness campaigns to keep the
youth away from militant outfits.
To a question about DawnLeaks, he referred to the Interior
Minister’s announcement that the report would be made public in
three to four days.
He said according to the terms of board of inquiry, there was
no mention of building consensus. Those responsible for DawnLeaks
would be dealt according to law, he added.
To another question, he said the RUF was an operation for
maintaining peace and it had nothing to do with politics.
