Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told the National Assembly on Monday that the decision to launch a military operation in North Waziristan was purely domestic and was not made under foreign pressure.
He said that the government sincerely waited for any positive outcome of the peace dialogue for four and a half months.
He said that for the last three decades, the tribal areas have hosted ‘aliens’, who marred local traditions and culture, besides posing a threat to national security.
He said the issue arose after Pakistan’s uncalled for participation in the cold war and kidnapping for ransom, drug trade and terror activities in other countries became a tradition of the tribal people.
He said that the government had already announced to launch the operation in case of failure of the dialogue process, adding that the decision to launch the operation was taken by the civil and military leadership.
Asif said that the terrorists took the government’s quest for peace as its weakness.
He advised the electronic media not give coverage to the terrorists anymore and cited the example of the Afghan media for blacking out Taliban activities during the election process to avoid influencing public opinion.
The minister criticised the national media for unnecessarily covering the recent attack on the Karachi Airport thereby endangering the lives of Rangers and other security men.
Asif said, “We are fighting the war of our survival. The operation is not the ultimate solution but one of the phases only,” adding that it will be followed by another phase of post-operative care.
He said the post operative care would start after the army achieved victory and foreign elements were eliminated.
He said the country had been fighting anti-state elements for around 35 years, but by launching the operation, this fight had been intensified.
He said that unfortunately, Pakistan had become a pawn in the chess game of foreign powers.
“The world invented ‘jihad’ and entangled Pakistan. Russia and the US have left the region but Pakistan and Afghanistan are facing the problem,” he said.