Rawalpindi(National Times)- Security forces have killed 15 terrorists who were trying to infiltrate into Pakistan through its border with Afghanistan, the military’s media affairs wing said on Thursday.
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the terrorists had tried to cross into Pakistan’s North Waziristan district on the night between August 31 and September 1.
Their movement, however, was detected by security forces, the statement said, adding that the troops “responded professionally and with patience to engage them”.
“As a result of precise and skillful engagement that lasted for 36 hours, 15 khawarij belonging to India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij” were killed, the statement added.
The state uses the term Fitna al Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
ISPR said that during the sanitisation operation after the engagement, large quantities of weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists. This further “exposed the nefarious designs of khawarij and their facilitators seeking to disrupt peace and stability in the country,” the military’s media wing said.
It said the incident along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border once again vindicated Pakistan’s “persistent stance regarding the abject failure of the Afghan Taliban regime to deny the use of Afghan soil to the terrorist organisation under their patronage for cross-border terrorism”.
“The Afghan Taliban regime has consistently failed to ensure effective border management and honor its international obligations,” ISPR said.
It further stated that a “sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other India-sponsored khariji found in the area as [the] relentless counter-terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” ISPR stated.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to the security forces for foiling the infiltration attempt near the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan, state-run PTV reported.
“The security forces, demonstrating utmost professional skill, patience and courage, have reduced the impure intentions of the terrorists to dust,” he said in a statement carried by the state broadcaster.
He said the Azm-i-Istehkam campaign against terrorism would continue with “full force and determination until the menace of terrorism is uprooted from the country”, according to the statement.
President Asif Ali Zardari also commended the security forces for their successful operation, according to a statement issued by the Presidency.
“The resolve of the security forces to defend the borders of the beloved homeland and protect peace and stability is commendable,” the president was quoted as saying.
“No permission will be granted to terrorist elements operating under foreign patronage to spread unrest in Pakistan,” he added.
In his acclamation of the security forces, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said they had reduced the enemy’s “nefarious intentions to dust”.
The latest action by security forces comes as Islamabad continues to stress that the Afghan Taliban put an end to the use of Afghan soil by terrorists, particularly for attacks in Pakistan.
Despite recent diplomatic developments suggesting a renewed push to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Foreign Office on Wednesday remained firm that meaningful progress in relations would depend on the Taliban taking concrete and verifiable action against TTP and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.
The FO spokesperson’s remarks, during a weekly briefing, came amid renewed diplomatic activity, including Chinese Special Envoy Yue Xiaoyong’s visit to Islamabad to revive the Urumqi process aimed at preventing further escalation, and an invitation to Afghan ambassador Sardar Shakeb to speak at the National Defence University.
Islamabad, however, sees little proof that the Taliban have moved beyond containing TTP activities.
The latest UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team report noted that the Taliban had relocated around 2,000 TTP fighters and their families away from areas bordering Pakistan, and that Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had warned the group against attacks on Pakistan — but also that Taliban support for the TTP continued as the group escalated attacks and expanded its organisational structure.
For Islamabad, relocating terrorists does not amount to dismantling the command, training and logistical networks that remain at the centre of its concerns.
