The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) meeting was held at the Joint Staff Headquarters.
General Rashad Mahmood, chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, presided over the meeting which was attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, the defence secretary and other senior military officers from the three services.
The JCSC is a quarterly moot of senior military leadership to assess and evaluate the operational preparedness of the armed forces.
During the meeting, issues pertaining to national security and emerging regional environment along with the progress on the agenda points of last meetings came under discussion. Participants expressed their satisfaction over the standard of preparedness of the armed forces to take on the upcoming challenges being faced by the country.
The meeting reaffirmed the resolve of the armed forces to fight the menace of terrorism under a comprehensive strategy within the policy parameters set by the political leadership.
The MQM committee said that innocents were being killed in the name of targeted operation extra-judicially. Raids were being conducted and detainees implicated in fabricated charges, it said.
It demanded an action from the prime minister, the interior minister and Governor of Sindh for the arrest of the gangsters.
On the other hand, Sindh Minister for Information Sharjeel Memon said that his government would not leave the people at the mercy of criminals.
While vehemently condemning the arson and carnage in Lyari, and casualties of innocent women and children in the subsequent use of crackers, the PPP minister said city police chief Shahid Hayat had been directed to take measures for controlling the volatile situation in Lyari.
He said the city’s situation was purposely being deteriorated by certain elements but the Sindh government was taking all steps to foil all such conspiracies and was, through law enforcement agencies under its administrative control, taking full scale action against the criminals.
He said the law enforcement agencies had since past six months of targeted operation against criminals arrested thousands of criminals and produced them in the courts of law while the courts concerned had awarded sentences to the criminals on charges of crimes proved during trials.
Memon said that the law enforcement agencies personnel had also suffered colossal losses as they sacrificed their lives for peace and tranquility in the metropolis and were in full determination with heightened spirits to chase the perpetrators till end.
