No discrimination in anti-terror operations, says military

• ISPR DG says Pakistan Army doing a better job than what US and ISAF forces did in Afghanistan with the resources at their disposal
• Says military courts a stopgap arrangement for a period of two years

The military’s chief spokesperson, Major General Asim Bajwa has said that the armed forces were going after terrorists “without any discrimination”.

Answering a question about the armed forces’ viewpoint of militant groups during an interview with CNN, Bajwa said: “There are no good terrorists…..We are going against all terrorists without any discrimination of hue and colour.”

The director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the army had cleared a major part of the North Waziristan tribal region during Operation Zarb-e-Azb except for a small belt near the Pak-Afghan border. He said that the operation against militant groups was underway with air and helicopter gunship strikes and these were being followed by ground operations.

When asked by anchor Christiane Amanpour whether the Pakistan Army were “up to” the task of fighting against the militants, Bajwa shot back.

“I would say this is an insult to the Pakistani people and Pakistani forces if you ask this kind of question. When I say we’re very clear and we are capable of dealing with them,” he said.

“I think there is no confusion in our mind that we have to go against the phenomenon of terrorism, against all terrorists, and their abettors,” he added.

He also compared the performance and efficiency of Pakistan’s military with that of the US and ISAF forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“If you see the nature of this conflict, you see the US forces in Iraq, then in Afghanistan, they’ve been there for so long, you look at the ISAF forces. The scale and magnitude of the forces and resources which are employed and look at the performance of Pakistani forces, they have done an excellent job,” the DG ISPR said.

Responding to another question regarding the change in Pakistan’s security situation following the measures adopted after the Peshawar school massacre, Maj Gen Bajwa said: “There is a lot more security at the national level…there is a concept of security. That has been evolved and there is a review of security at every level. I think it is very difficult to guarantee that nothing of this kind happens anywhere in the world.”

The military spokesman cited the example of the recent attack in Paris and school shootouts that occur in the United States.

He further said: “The whole nation has come together…You’ve seen the entire political leadership on one table and take certain decisions for the future of our country.”

Responding to a query about the establishment of military courts in the country, Maj Gen Bajwa said that military courts were a stopgap arrangement adopted for a period of two years. He added that the criminal justice system was undergoing reform.

Talking about relations with Afghanistan, especially in the wake of the Peshawar attack, the top military spokesman said: “Relations were already on a positive trajectory, especially ever since we had a new government in Afghanistan. There has been growing cooperation. There has been growing understanding between the two countries.”