News Analysis |
Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Thursday said that Pakistan has achieved peace on its soil and now it’s Afghanistan’s responsibility to do the same. He said that Pakistan is a resilient nation which has stood strong in all trouble and turmoil.
In an interview with ARY News, DG ISPR highlighted Pakistan’s efforts and sacrifices in the war against terror, and briefed about the security situation in the country. The DG ISPR stated that every general articulated the war against terror according to the need of the time. He also said that Pakistan has eliminated all the terrorist hideouts within its border; the present fight is tougher because the terrorists have no stronghold, and they are hiding with the help of facilitators.
The DG ISPR presented a very optimistic picture of the future, assuring that while the condition cannot become totally normal anytime soon, a new normal has been achieved, and the security condition is well under control.
2017-18 are very challenging in the fight against terrorism because contrary to the past, the enemy is ‘unseen’ and hidden which makes them harder to fight it, he explained. Talking about India, the DG ISPR said that India is a perpetual threat even though conventional war is out of the question. He also said that ever since both nations became nuclear powers, only indirect strategy was being used to counter the threat.
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India escalated its threat when the Pakistan army was busy fighting the war against terror in Afghanistan, all forces were engaged in the eastern border so the western border became volatile and many terrorists penetrated the country from there, he added. The DG also criticized Indian cross border violations; he stated that there were more cross border violations from India in 2017 than there were from 2003-16 combined.
He warned that we are in the fifth generation of warfare and rather than attacking with force, the enemy is resorting to attacking our minds and trying to break us from inside but he assured that all necessary steps are being taken against it.
He presented Kulbushan Jadhav as an example of covert Indian operations within Pakistani territory. When asked about Trump’s tweet and the recent hostility from US, the DG said that Pakistani government and Foreign Office had already responded to it. He claimed that Pakistan has achieved peace within its borders but Afghanistan has failed to do the same within its own territory. Pakistan should not be made a scapegoat for US failures in Afghanistan, he protested.
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The DG proudly claimed that Pakistan gave 100% performance with only 1% Coalition Support Fund (CSF) while forces in Afghanistan failed with 95% of Coalition Support Fund (CSF), if any fault lies then it lies with Afghanistan and not Pakistan. DG ISPR also underscored Pakistan’s role in the Afghan war against terror, claiming that International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would have been unable to defeat Al-Qaeda without Pakistan’s assistance; Pakistan offered its logistics and intelligence services to the forces in Afghanistan.
Terrorist harbours are not in Pakistan but in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan, admitted the presence of TTP in Afghanistan.
Repudiating US claims that Pakistan is harbouring terrorists, he highlighted the operations that Pakistan conducted, he said that Pakistan has cleared Swat, the process of its rehabilitation is on its way but the threat still lies across the border.
He explained that the unrest in Pakistan is an attempt to sabotage Pakistan China Economic Corridor (CPEC) because it would be a game changer not only for Pakistan but also for the whole region. The DG said that if US has any proof of terrorist hideouts in Pakistan then it should provide them the details so they can act on it. Terrorist harbours are not in Pakistan but in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan, admitted the presence of TTP in Afghanistan.
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The DG ISPR presented a very optimistic picture of the future, assuring that while the condition cannot become totally normal anytime soon, a new normal has been achieved, and the security condition is well under control. He warned that we are in the fifth generation of warfare and rather than attacking with force, the enemy is resorting to attacking our minds and trying to break us from inside but he assured that all necessary steps are being taken against it.