- ISPR says 108 rebels killed, over 4,500 detained in 15 operation across Pakistan
- Ghafoor reveals intelligence agencies foil a major terrorist plan for Easter
In a major breakthrough in the quest to apprehend some big fish during the Raddul Fasaad operation, the army on Monday announced of having got hold of Ehsanullah Ehsan, a former spokesperson of the Tehreek-e-Taliban and a senior leader of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a banned militant outfit.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Asif Ghafoor made the startling revelation while briefing the journalists here on the updates about the operation. Ehsanullah recently gave himself up into security agencies, he said.
Since 2014, Ehsanullah is the biggest catch by the armed forces beside killing of some other militant ‘commanders.’ The ISPR spokesperson said that the state was re-establishing its writ. “No element can challenge the state if the state has the will to weed out dangerous elements,” he said.
“There can be no bigger achievement for Pakistan than the fact that our biggest enemies are now realising the error of their ways and are turning themselves in,” he added. About the investigation into the News Leaks, he said that the report regarding ‘news leaks’ would be out within two to three days.
He said that it would identify the people responsible for the leaks. He said that there was no truth in reports of striking a consensus among the civilian and military members of the committee, adding that the matter should be raised with the interior minister who would brief the media over it.
Giving an overview of the Radd-ul-Fasaad, the ISPR director general said that 108 terrorists had been killed since the launch of the operation. Out of those killed, 73 had been killed in FATA, 17 in Punjab, 10 in Balochistan and eight in Sindh in total 15 major operations. As many as 4,510 suspects were detained, including 1,859 unregistered Afghan nationals, he said.
He said that those surrendered to the armed forces were 558 with a huge chunk of 487 came from Balochistan where the federal and provincial governments had launched an amnesty scheme for rebels. In Sindh, 52 suspected terrorists had surrendered while 19 had given them up to the army in the tribal areas. No one surrendered in Punjab though.
Ghafoor said that Pakistan has progressed to the point that the people who’ve been planning attacks on its soil from across the border (Afghanistan) have started to see that the situation has changed. He said that the objective of the operation was to stabilise the western zone and denying freedom of action to terrorists.
“Dismantling terrorist support base in heartland and dilution of residual potential of terrorists are main objectives of the operation. The support implementation of the National Action Plan as whole-of-nation approach and support policy initiatives included national counter narrative.”
He said that the army fights terrorists while terrorism and extremism were fought by the law enforcement agencies under the whole-of-nation approach. He said that the broad spectrum security/counter-terrorism (CT) operations by Rangers in Punjab was continuation of ongoing operations across the country.
He said that focus on more effective Pakistan-Afghanistan border security management was a priority while countrywide de-weaponisation and explosive control were long-term reforms. Explaining major operations, the ISPR spokesperson said that on April 14, a major terrorist attack planned for Easter successfully foiled by the intelligence agencies.
He said that a special operation was conducted in the Punjab Housing Society in Lahore where one terrorist was killed and a suicide bomber was arrested along with suicide jackets. Four soldiers including two officers were injured during the raid.
He also said that Noreen Laghari, who went missing from Hyderabad around two months back, was recovered during the operation at Lahore. A video was also run wherein the girl revealed details about her disappearance and her potential involvement in a planned suicide attack on Easter, last Sunday.
Regarding Laghari’s case, Ghafoor urged the nation and the media to be watchful of terrorist elements that seem to be potentially targeting the mindset of the youths. About an operation in Choti Zeireen in Dera Ghazi Khan, he said that the Rangers along with CTD and intelligence agencies conducted a joint operation on April 14 in Basti Dadwani, around 30km from Dera Ghazi Khan.
During the operation, 10 terrorists belonging to banned TTP were killed. In intense exchange of fire, four soldiers embraced martyrdom while two got injured. As per the intelligence reports, two residents of Basti Dadwani were affiliates of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Later they joined the Tehree-e-Taliban and got proper training from Afghanistan and became terrorists.
About military courts performance, Ghafoor said that death sentence had been handed down to 161 terrorists out of which 143 petitions had been submitted with the Chief of Army Staff which all were rejected. About 63 petitions had been rejected by the president, he added.
He said that till date, 24 terrorists had been hanged out of which 11 had been executed after Raddul Fasaad operation. He said that 14 more were to be executed shortly while 17 were awaited from jail authorities. The matter of six terrorists is subjudice, he said.
BORDER MANAGEMENT: Detailing the ongoing fencing alongside the border with Afghanistan, the ISPR spokesperson said that total border of Pakhtunkhwa and FATA with Afghanistan was 1172km out of total 2611 kms. The fence-able area was 744km while the non-fence-able area was 428km along Dir/Chitral. Another 100km was along Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber agencies.
LOC: Ghafoor said that there has been an increase in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control in Azad Jammu Kashmir. The reason behind this is that India is attempting to divert attention away from the political uprising in the disputed state, he said. In 2014, 315 ceasefire violations were reported; 248 in 2015; 380 in 2016; and in 2017, as of April, there have already been 222 ceasefire violations, he said.