The Karachi violence would be the top agenda in the forthcoming corps commanders’ meeting, likely to be held later this week with Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani in the chair.
The army leadership is deeply perturbed over the precarious security situation in the country’s economic hub and has already voiced its concerns in this regard.
Top military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas had said on Saturday the Pakistan Army was seriously concerned by the grave situation in Karachi
and wanted an immediate end to
violence in the city.
“Law enforcement agencies should launch indiscriminate action against perpetrators of violence and saboteurs to secure peace in the mega city,” Abbas had told a foreign news agency.
Military commanders had also expressed their concerns over the law and order crisis in Karachi and its implications on the country’s economy in the last Corps Commanders’ Conference, which was held in early August.
“It has been a month since the last Corps Commanders’ meeting was held but no marked improvement has been witnessed in the security situation in Karachi. The army’s top brass is concerned about this and it wants the circumstances to improve for which the civilian law enforcement agencies have to take all possible measures,” said a senior official who requested anonymity.
He said the military commanders believed that there must be broad based operation targeting everyone responsible for the chaos in Karachi. However, he clarified that concern on the part of military commanders did not mean that the military would be involved in any operations in the city.
“The military brass is however, likely to apprise the government about its concerns vis-à-vis to the country’s political leadership in a formal manner after the forthcoming meeting,” he said.
The official said apart from the security crisis in Karachi, other important matters related to the country’s
defense and security would be discussed in the meeting.
“The ongoing row with the United States and efforts afoot to revive normal relations between Islamabad and Washington would also be deliberated upon in detail in the Corps Commanders’ meeting,” he said.
