ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The federal minister for interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that the military operation is continuing against the terrorists and they might resort to backlash.
“Their targets are soft and easy but we are trying to strengthen our mechanism to foil their nefarious designs,” the minister said while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The Pakistani army forces launched a full-fledged operation Zarb-e-Azb against various militant outfits in the volatile tribal region in June last year, aimed at complete elimination of the terrorist elements.
However, the militants continued to carry out terror attacks across the country in a response to military offensive. Later, the political and military leadership had to intensify their efforts to curb militancy when Peshawar army public school was hit in December last year.
The interior minister said that hundreds of terrorists have been arrested in about 500 intelligence-based operations across the country. He said that improved coordination amongst the federal and provincial governments and security agencies have helped thwart many terrorist attacks.
Nisar said that the entire nation and the political leadership should stand united to weed out the menace of terrorism from the country once and for all.
Moreover, he said that no politics should be done on the issue of national security as one of the objectives of the terrorists is to divide the nation besides creating an environment of fear in the country.
Last Friday, again a major suicide bomb attack hit an Imambargah in Shikarpur district of Sindh that left at least 62 persons including children killed.
Taking about the Shikarpur tragedy, the minister regretted there is a sectarian rife in Shikarpur but the area has also emerged a hub for transportation of terrorists to other areas.
The interior minister said that the security forces are keeping an eye on the area and enhanced its monitoring in the wake Shikarpur tragedy.
