Pakistan to take out militant safe havens inside the border: Pak General

Pakistan to take out militant safe havens inside the border: Pak General

In a latest development regarding Pakistan’s will to take action against terrorist safe havens on its side of the border a top Pakistani General said that his country would take action against these sanctuaries, but pressed on allied forces in Afghanistan
to do the same on their side.

Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik, who is in charge of military operations in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told reporters that his troops would not leave the area until complete security was ensured.

“We will take action against the terrorists in our area and NATO and Afghanistan should also take action against them (terrorists) in their area across the border,” he said.

Malik was speaking during a visit to the development projects started by Pakistan army in the Kotkai area of South Waziristan tribal district on the Afghan border, where the military launched a ground offensive two years ago.

“Pakistan will not tolerate any infiltration in its area. The Afghan government and NATO should not allow terrorists’ safe havens in Afghan provinces along the Pakistan border,” he said.

“Our troops will stay here until complete security is ensured in this area, the Pakistan army is not going back from the tribal regions,” Malik said.

These statements have come just days after a top US General in Afghanistan accused Pakistani forces of turning a blind eye on cross border shelling by insurgents, leading to assume that the Pakistan army was collaborating with anti-US terrorists.

However, on Friday, October 28, Pakistan’s military rejected these accusations and termed them baseless.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said, “I completely reject this, this is wrong and baseless.”

Militants are dug in on both sides of the border, and last week the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Pakistan to do more to squeeze militant safe havens in its territory, notably those of the Haqqani network, a group which the US blames for
being the most active organization working against NATO and US forces in Afghanistan.

The insurgent group has also been blamed by the White House for carrying out the September attacks on its Embassy in Kabul this year.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=2057

Posted by Ammar Ahmad on Oct 29 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry