Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif on Tuesday said Pakistan Army is a national institution and it does not lean towards a political party, vision or ideology.
In his maiden press conference after assuming the post of Director-General (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry reiterated that the army is focused on rooting out terrorism from the country.
“The Pakistan Army is a national army. All political parties are respectable for us […] but we do not lean towards any political party or ideology,” the ISPR DG said while addressing the presser at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The DG ISPR said that it was important to understand the rationale behind the above stance. “If you look at the world, then if any country’s army is used to favour a specific political ideology or religion or vision then it has only led to chaos in that country — this is a reality,” he added.
The head of the military’s media wing said the army had a “constitutional and non-political” relationship with the government of the time and would always have so, adding that it was inappropriate to paint that link with a political colour.
DG ISPR Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the Pakistan Army along with civil and military intelligence agencies is conducting over 70 intelligence based operations (IBOs) on the average across the country to stem out the recent wave of terrorism and resurgence.
Major General Chaudhry said the security forces have so far conducted some 8,269 IBOs since 2023 and apprehended 1,378 terrorists and killed 157 among them during the anti-terrorism operations. He added that for the past many months, the terrorists activities were underway to destabilize peace in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces.
“The security forces are focusing on it. The civil and military law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have made wonderful measures. However, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch Separatist organizations have been found behind all that,” the DG ISPR said.
He said since the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, some 436 terrorist incidents took place that martyred 293 innocent civilians and injured 521 individuals. “Today, Alhamdulilah (Thanks to Allah) with the support of the nation, there is no ‘No Go Area’ in Pakistan,” he added.
The armed forces spokesperson underlined that there were few terrorist groups making hostile activities whereas proper efforts were underway to exterminate them. He added that a large cache of illegal weapons, ammunition and ordnance was being recovered from the terrorists during various IBOs and further recovery was underway.
The Peshawar Police Lines and Karachi Police Office (KPO) attacks showed the nefarious intentions of the country’s enemies, whereas these terrorists had no contact with Islam, he added.
He informed that Peshawar attack was done by Jamaat ul Ahrar and the attacker hailed from Afghanistan. He added that the Peshawar attack facilitator was arrested who had trained the suicide attackers and received a sum of Rs7.5 million for facilitation and execution of the attack. “The attack on Peshawar Police Lines was postponed twice due to lack of the people offering prayer in the mosque. In the third time, the attack was executed in the presence of maximum people,” the ISPR DG said.
He added that the KPO attack facilitator Aryad Ullah Waheed alias Abdul Aziz was also arrested who received directions from TTP leadership and got Rs 3 million whereas he bought a car from that money to execute the attack.
The ISPR DG mentioned that during the anti-terrorism operations since January 2023, some 137 officers and soldiers have embraced martyrdom and 117 got injured. He said that the nation paid tribute to these brave sons of the soil.
He added that the intelligence agencies’ day and night efforts had helped to arrest Baloch terrorist commander Gulzar Alam alias Shambey.
Pakistan armed forces’ efforts were not hidden to any and if compared to the world forces under which circumstances and resources it fought against terrorism, there was no precedent to it, he added. “Our fight will continue till termination of the last terrorist,” he vowed.
Highlighting the Western Border Management measures, the ISPR DG said almost 98 percent border fencing along 2,611 kilometers Pak-Afghan international border was completed and 85 percent fencing was completed along Pak-Iran border.
He added that 85 percent construction of forts along Pak-Afghan and 33 percent along Pak-Iran border was completed.
