RAWALPINDI (National Times) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan said Friday that his party would participate in the all-parties conference (APC) in which the government is expected to take political parties into confidence over Operation Azm-e-Istehkam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My party will participate in the all-parties conference and hear what the government has to say,” the PTI founder told reporters as he appeared in a case at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where he is imprisoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PTI founder, while noting that his party has reservations over the new anti-terrorism action, said it would “only lead to further instability” in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With terrorism on the rise, the government has launched a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism drive, which would be intelligence-based operations’ focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khan’s comments came after Geo News reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to organise an APC “to gain political parties\u2019 confidence” in newly announced Operation Azm-e-Istehkam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PM Shehbaz will hold consultations to decide on the date of the APC, the sources said, adding that the date would be announced later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal cabinet last week approved the launching of the counter-terrorism operation following the National Action Plan’s Central Apex Committee’s recommendations to turn up the heat on militants targeting Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, opposition parties including the PTI, Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Awami National Party (ANP), and others have voiced concerns over the military operation, demanding that parliament must be taken into confidence before taking any such decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to the criticism, the PMO had clarified that “no large-scale military operation is being launched” in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The recently announced vision for enduring stability named Azm-e-Istehkam is being erroneously misunderstood and compared with earlier launched kinetic operations like Zarb-e-Azab, Rah-e-Najaat etc,” read a statement issued by the PMO on June 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal government had further stated that there are no such no-go areas in the country since the ability of terrorist entities to carry out large-scale organised operations inside Pakistan was decisively degraded by earlier kinetic operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RAWALPINDI (National Times) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan said Friday that his party would participate in the all-parties conference (APC) in which the government is expected to take political parties into confidence over Operation Azm-e-Istehkam. “My party will participate in the all-parties conference and hear what the government has to say,” the PTI founder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n