A nation of 180m fighting for future of world’s seven billion

The tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Pakistan has told the US that despite paying a heavy price in blood and money, the Pakistanis are still fighting militants for the safety of the people across the world. “Since 2001, a nation of 180 million has been fighting for the future of the world’s seven billion,” the Pakistan government said in a message advertised in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
The half-page message, with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s photo, was timed with the solemn observance of the tragedy in which more than 3,000 Americans were killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. “Which country can do more for your peace?” the government asked. “Can any other country do that? Only Pakistan… The promise of our martyrs lives on.” Giving details, the government told the American public that since September 11, 2001, 21,672 Pakistanis have lost their lives or have been seriously injured in the ongoing fight against terrorism.
The Pakistan Army also has lost 2,795 soldiers while 8,671 soldiers have been injured, it said, adding that there have been 3,486 bomb blasts and 283 major attacks in the country. “More than 3.5 million have been displaced while the country has lost $68 billion due to terrorism,” the message said. “The Pakistani nation is making sacrifices that statistics cannot reflect. Pakistan remains engaged in the war for world peace, with 200,000 troops deployed at the frontline and 90,000 soldiers fighting on the Afghan border. The tenth anniversary of 9/11 attacks, perpetrated by al-Qaeda linked militants, has brought into focus the terrorism challenges facing the world.”
Pakistan launched a massive anti-terror campaign after hundreds of al Qaeda-linked and Afghan militants crossed into the Tribal Areas from across the porous Durand Line in late 2001 following the US invasion of Afghanistan and consequent fall of the Taliban government in Kabul. On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the attacks, the White House acknowledged the fact that it had been due to Pakistan’s vital anti-terrorism role that now the US could feel safer, ten years after the cataclysmic 9/11 terrorist attacks.