Pakistan Armed Forces Committed to Wipe Out Terrorism

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- The Pakistan Armed Forces are committed to their continuous fight against terrorism in the south Asia country, after having successfully improved the security situation in Pakistan following Operation Zarb-e-Azb in 2014-2016, a Pakistani official said. Defence Advisor at the Pakistan High Commission in Malaysia, Commodore Jawad Ahmed said the holistic concept has successfully discredited and dislodged terrorists, their abettors, facilitators, financiers, and sympathisers, and is now being followed up by Operation Rad ul Fasad. "Pakistan’s Army involvement has been incremental from 36,000 troops deployed in 2001 to over 200,000 troops at present, the highest troop deployment by any nation. "On the other hand, Pakistan’s Law Enforcement Agencies are currently engaged in country-wide combing and intelligence-based operations to clean up the residual presence of terrorists and their sleeper cells," he said in his welcoming address at the reception of the 52nd Armed Forces Day of Pakistan, here Wednesday night. According to a report published in 2015, militant attacks in the country have dropped to six years low, after one year of operation Zarb-e-Azb, a joint military operation to wipe out various militant groups following 2014 attack on Jinnah International Airport which killed 36 including 10 attackers. Jawad said that terrorists' sanctuaries and hideouts in the Pakistan have been completely eliminated and the operations have now moved to the margins of Pakistan-Afghanistan border, adding that thousands of terrorists, many of them from transnational outfits, have been killed or fled across the border. Pakistan was a hotbed for terrorist groups, especially from transnational groups such as the Daesh, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). The Defence Advisor also highlighted that terrorists' narrative and their ideology has been defeated through the two operations, and paid tribute to his fellow comrades and countrymen for their strong will and bravery in fighting terrorism. "I can say with utmost confidence that no other society and no other Armed Forces in the world have sacrificed as much as we in Pakistan have sacrificed in the fight against terrorism, and yet we continue to fight this menace," he said. Meanwhile on the occasion of the Pakistan Armed Forces Day observed on Sept 6 every year to commemorate the sacrifices of fallen heroes during the 1965 war, Jawad honour the country's martyrs, adding that over the years, Pakistan Armed Forces has acquired the requisite skills, expertise and gained rich experience in the fields of modern day and non-conventional decentralised war or 4th Generation Warfare. The Defence Advisor also thanked the government of Malaysia and the Malaysian Armed Forces for their unflinching support to Pakistan in the hour of need, and for maintaining and furthering close defence ties between the two nations. Also present at the event were Pakistan High Commissioner to Malaysia Syed Hassan Raza, Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Chief General Affendi Buang, high ranking Malaysian defence personnel as well as ambassadors and high commissioners based here. -- BERNAMA