SIALKOT
Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that operation Zarb-e-Azb is successfully underway and has produced more than the desired results, paving the way to purge all the tribal areas of terrorists.
He highly lauded sacrifices being rendered by the internally displaced persons (IDPs) during the ongoing war against terrorism, saying that the government was well aware of the problems being faced by the IDPs and working day and night to mitigate their sufferings. The government will not leave the IDPs alone in this critical hour and the entire nation stands with their brave brethren wholeheartedly.
He stated this while talking to the party workers, notables and newsmen at his residence in Sialkot Cantt here during the Eid Days.
Local MPAs including Ch Muhammad Ikram, Ch Arshad Warriach, Muhammad Asif Bajwa, Rana Muhammad Iqbal Harnah and local PML-N leaders Mehmoodul Hassan Babar Khan, Shujaat Ali Pasha, former MNA Dr Nelson Azeem and others were also present on the occasion.
The Defence Minister again ruled out giving any timeframe for end to the ongoing anti-terrorism operation by armed forces in North Waziristan Agency (NWA), saying that the operation would continue till elimination of terrorism, militancy and insurgency from the tribal areas. Kh Asif pointed out that announcement regarding timeframe for end to the military operation was not possible at the moment. However, the government will take all the mainstream political parties into confidence over this burning issue of eradication of terrorism and early rehabilitation and repatriation of the IDPs,” he stressed.
He said that during the prevailing circumstances it was very difficult to give a timeframe for end to Zarb-e-Azab, saying that the operation was successfully moving ahead with the prayers of the nation.
Kh Asif said that the whole nation stood united against terrorism and was ready to sacrifice even their lives while battling terrorism, militancy and insurgency shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces. He added that the PML-N government was fully aware of the eternal and external dangers and was making hectic efforts to cope with them.
He declared that armed forces were capable enough to uproot terrorism from the country and bring back durable peace to the country.
He claimed that the present government had been strengthening national institutions through the promotion of democracy.
The federal minister stressed that there was no place for the politics of conflict under the prevailing scenario, saying that all the political and religious parties must prefer national defence, solemnity and economical stability instead of doing politics of conflict for their personal gains. He said that the time was ripe to be united and shun the political differences in the larger national interest by giving up tradition of politics of conflict.