In an unusual development, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) on Tuesday took up the Karachi situation for discussion and expressed concern over the precarious security situation in the provincial capital, asking for effective measures by law enforcement agencies for the restoration of peace and stability.
The JCSC meeting was held here at the Joint Staff Headquarters with JCSC Chairman General Khalid Shameem Wynne in the chair. The committee’s meeting discussed the situation on the country’s borders. The attacks of Taliban militants on Pakistani border checkposts in recent days also figured in the discussions and the meeting was told about contact being made with the Afghan government and NATO authorities for the prevention of such incursions.
REGULAR TROOPS: “The meeting was told that the army had already sent its regular troops to frontier areas in Chitral and Dir to man the country’s borders and stop the cross-border attacks by militants from Afghanistan,” the official said. However, an official requesting anonymity said the Karachi situation was also deliberated upon in detail during the meeting of the top brass of the country’s armed forces.
ISI Director General Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha briefed on law and order in Karachi. “The armed forces leadership observed that lawlessness in Karachi was impacting the whole country.” The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, the defence secretary, the defence production secretary, the joint staff director general, the ISI chief, the Strategic Plans Division director general and senior military officers from the three services.
