Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Monday emphasised the “need to consolidate long-term gains” as the military moves towards the conclusion of a large-scale kinetic operation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Director General of Inter-Services Public Relation, Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said the army chief directed “escalating the pace of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across the country to eliminate the entire infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan.”
Gen Raheel, who was addressing a corps commanders conference held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, called for more effective border management and continued proactive dominance of the cleared areas to maintain writ of the state in FATA, Bajwa tweeted.
“The return of temporarily displaced persons must complete according to the decided schedule,” the army chief was quoted as saying.
Bajwa said that the military commanders present in the meeting dwelt at length on the internal and external security situations among other professional matters.
Participants of the conference also took holistic view of the emerging geo-strategic environment and its relevance to security of the country, Bajwa said.
The chief of military’s media wing claimed Gen Raheel expressed satisfaction over the “progress of the ongoing operation in Shawal and adjoining areas in North Waziristan Agency”.
The army chief also paid rich tributes to the sacrifices laid by the officers and men of security agencies in operation Zarb-i-Azb and, vowing that “under no circumstances will these gains be compromised.”
