RAWALPINDI, May 7 (APP):Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major General Ahmed Sharif on Tuesday said that the attack on the convoy that left five Chinese engineers dead in Bisham on March 26, was planned in Afghanistan.
Addressing a news conference, the DG ISPR dwelt at length on the terrorist attacks into Pakistan being perpetrated from the Afghan soil and the tensions developed in this regard with the western neighbour.
Major General Sharif said,“A sad incident took place on March 26 in Bisham where a suicide bomber targeted a car of the Chinese engineers working on the Dasu Dam, as a result of which five Chinese citizens and a Pakistani got killed.”
This suicide bomb attack, he added, was also linked to Afghanistan as its planning was made there. Both the terrorists and their facilitators were controlled from Afghanistan, while the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national.
He said the Pakistan Army strongly condemned “this ugly game of terrorism” and was “taking all necessary actions to bring its facilitators to justice”.
The DG ISPR said that in the war on terrorism, Pakistani soldiers, workers and personnel of law enforcement agencies were martyred in huge numbers.
“Everyone knows that Pakistan tried its best for peace in the region and especially in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s role has been the most vital for peace in the region. Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees for a long time and has helped the Afghan refugees more than other country, which the world has also recognized,” he underlined.
Major General Sharif said despite all the efforts by Pakistan and despite pointing it out to the Afghan interim government on the state level, “the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) terrorists are continuously committing acts of terrorism in Pakistan”.
Pakistan, he said, had provided concrete evidence but no action from the Afghan authorities could have been seen as yet. There was evidence that the recent terrorism in Pakistan had its links to terror hideouts in Afghanistan.
He reiterated that Pakistan had always helped Afghanistan and reminded the interim government in Kabul that one of its pledges made to Pakistan by was not to let the Afghan soil be used for any terror acts against the latter.
The DG ISPR said that there was credible evidence that the TTP terrorists were still using the Afghan soil for launch attacks into Pakistan. In that regard, he mentioned, the Foreign Office had registered 12 protests.
The Army Chief had taken a clear stance that Pakistan had reservations on the hideouts of banned outfits in Afghanistan, he added.
“Pakistan will leave no stone unturned to eradicate terror networks and provide protection to its citizens at all costs,” the ISRP DG said.
He said that the Armed Forces of Pakistan would go to any extent to suppress the terrorists and their patrons and facilitators as it was their mission to establish peace in the country.
The DG ISPR said that the terrorists and their enablers were busy in attempting to deteriorate the law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
“In January 2024, BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) terrorists attacked Mach Frontier Corps camp, which the security forces thwarted with bravery. In this attack, four soldiers, including two policemen embraced martyrdom while 24 terrorists were killed,” he mentioned.
On March 16, he said, a North Waziristan checkpost was attacked, and in the ensuing exchange of fire, seven soldiers, including Lieutenant Colonel Kashif and Captain Ahmed, embraced martyrdom while six terrorists were killed.
He said Pakistan, in response, carried out counter-attacks in Afghanistan’s border areas and targeted safe havens of terrorists, in which eight terrorists were killed, who were involved in numerous terror acts in the country.
He said on March 25, another soldier was martyred in a terror attack in Turbat while four terrorists were eliminated.
The DG ISPR said a terrorist named Habibullah son of Khan Mohammad, who was captured in an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Pishin district on April 23, admitted to committing terror acts in Pakistan.
So far in the year 2024, he said, the security forces had collectively conducted 13,135 small and major intelligence-based operations against terrorists and their facilitators, killing 249 terrorists and arresting 396.
“The Pakistan Army, police, intelligence agencies and other law enforcement forces are carrying out more than 100 operations on a daily basis against terrorists.”
During the operations in the ongoing year, he said, two officers and 60 soldiers of the Pakistani forces had embraced martyrdom.
The DG ISPR spoke about the drive to repatriate illegal Afghans to their own country.
“The decision to send back foreign citizens residing in Pakistan illegally was made by the Government of Pakistan in the larger national interest,” he added.
“There was added burden on the country’s economy, while the law and order situation in the country was also deteriorating. In no country in the world, illegal immigrants are allowed to roam freely. So far, 563,639 illegal Afghan citizens have returned to their country, yet hundreds of thousands are still living in Pakistan.”
As regards India, he said that the country’s top civil and army leadership was well aware of multiple threats from the neighbour on the eastern border, where plans were underway to divert attention from its internal violence as usual.
“In the current year, there have been multiple violations of ceasefire by India on a small scale, which include 120 incidents of speculative fire, 15 airspace violations and 59 technical air violations,” he said.
“The Indian army is targeting innocent citizens in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on the Line of Control (LoC) but the Pakistan Army has given a befitting response and will keep on doing so. We are ready to defend our sovereignty at all times and at all costs.”
He said the Indian army was also targeting innocent citizens in the Indian-held Kashmir.
“The Pakistan Army has given a befitting response to the Indian aggression on the LoC and will keep on doing so,” DG ISPR Sharif said.
Pakistan was always ready to defend its sovereignty, he reaffirmed.
Major General Sharif said the world was seeing the Indian army targeting innocent civilians in Kashmir. It had tried to silence the Kashmiris’ democratic voice through oppression.
He said when the Indian Supreme Court announced the “pre-written” verdict last year maintaining Article 370, it proved that India was “openly violating” the United Nations resolutions.
The DG ISPR said that the Indian government was involved in international crimes which included the targeted killing of Indian-origin Sikhs.
“The Indian agencies have also killed Pakistani citizens Shahid Latif and Muhammad Riaz on the directives of the Indian government,” he said, adding that there was credible evidence of communication between Indian agents and the killings on the Pakistani soil.
He stated that the Foreign Office had also given a press briefing in that regard.
Major General Sharif said that Pakistan had emerged as an effective voice on the global stage among several Muslim countries for the Gazans. In a meeting with the Palestinian ambassador, the Army Chief had called for an immediate ceasefire and vowed to continue speaking on the issue, he added.
He said that the Army Chief had declared that the Palestinian people had the full diplomatic, moral and political support of the Pakistani people.
“We will continue speaking up for viable solutions to the Palestinian issue and their land,” he said.
