Talk of ‘deal’ with Nawaz mere speculation: Afghan border fencing will continue as planned: DG ISPR
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military spokesperson, on Wednesday, reaffirmed the resolve to complete the fencing of the 2,600 km long border with Afghanistan, while understating the recent events of removal of fence and obstruction of the construction work by Taliban fighters as “localized issues”. In a media conference at ISPR, Gen Babar, DG ISPR said that there was no problem as fencing was in process and would continue.
The press conference held was to review the foremost developments in the security domain in the past year.
The ISPR chief said as far as the issue about fencing was concerned these were localized problems which had been addressed. The government was in touch with the Afghan interim government, he maintained, emphasizing the cordial nature of the relations with Afghanistan’s de-facto government.
He said that the fence on the Pak-Afghan international border is needed for security and regulation of trade and movement of the people living on both sides. The purpose was not to divide people, but to make them safe.
The military spokesperson said that the martyrs blood was involved in the installation of this fence. The fence of peace would be installed and completed.
Ninety four percent of the work on the project, he said, had been completed.
Gen Babar said operations against terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had recommenced after the breakdown of talks over certain “non-negotiable conditions”.
“The ceasefire ended on Dec 9. As far as the talks with TTP are concerned, they are on hold and operations are continuing,” he said.
The military spokesman while taking about the dialogue with the TTP, said, “Going into talks with these violent non-state actors on the request of Taliban government was a confidence building measure. After Aug 15, Government of Pakistan had given a requirement to the new interim government that TTP should not use Afghan soil against Pakistan. So it was in that context that they gave this option that they would bring them to the table and make them accept what Pakistan wants. Those conditions were yet to be settled.”
Talking about the factors that caused the talks to fail, he said: “TTP is not a monolith. They have internal differences. There were some problems. There were some conditions that were non-negotiable for us.”
Gen Babar said the army would continue the operations against TTP till the time it gets rid of “this menace.”
He also denied reports that some TTP fighters were released during the ceasefire.
Gen Babar categorically denied that some “deal” was being worked out for the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as “baseless speculation.”
“If someone speaks about such a matter, I would request you to ask them who is striking a deal. What are the specifics? What is the evidence that someone is out to make a deal?” Maj Gen Iftikhar asked.
He said there is no such thing going on and reiterated that if someone does talk of it, they must be asked for details.
Talks with TTP on hold, operations to continue: DG ISPR
“In my understanding, I am very clear on that, this is all absolutely baseless speculation and the lesser we discuss it, the better for the country,” he added.
He also maintained that there is no trouble afoot when it comes to civil-military relations.
“I say this time and again that the armed forces are a subservient institution to the government of Pakistan and work in accordance with their directives,” he said.
“That is it. There is nothing more to it. And one must avoid any speculation in this,” the military spokesperson said, adding: “Keep the establishment out of it (such debates) and don’t argue about this.”
He said that there are other more important issues that there is a greater need to talk about such as education, health, infrastructure development, population growth and agriculture.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.