The Army Spokesman Major General Aif Ghafoor said Tuesday that Pakistan never levelled allegations against Afghan government or the Afghan army for supporting Pakistani terrorists but it was stated that terrorists are using Afghan soil to target Pakistan. "TTP Chief, Mullah Fazlullah is in Afghanistan and he claims responsibility for attacks in Pakistan but it does not mean that the Afghan government is involved in such kind of the incidents," he told the visiting Afghan media team in Rawalpindi.
However, he said that India is using TTP against Pakistan. The military spokesman rejected the perception of the terrorist sanctuaries on the Pakistani soil after a series of military operations including the major offensive "Raad ul-Fasad" and earlier Operation "Zarb-e-Azb" in North Waziristan tribal region. Major General Asif Ghafoor on Tuesday asked if Pakistan supports terrorists in the war against terrorism, why it has rendered sacrifices of seventy three thousand people including military and civilians.
During briefing to Afghan journalists at ISPR Headquarter in Rawalpindi, DG ISPR said Pakistan had provided proofs for the steps taken for elimination of the Haqqani Network to the US delegation. He said the US and Afghan intelligence agencies are monitoring the Haqqani Network and they can give proofs that the activities of the terror network are no more.
He said Pakistan and Afghanistan can resolve their differences through talks and establishing border mechanism is aimed at stopping illegal transportation and halting the infiltration of terrorists. "Closure of border is not an appropriate step and such step is counterproductive for both countries and issues cannot be settled in this way."
"If Afghanistan has reservations for the border mechanism, it should suggest ways how to stop infiltration of terrorists and illegal transportation at the border. Pakistan is ready to fence the Afghan border akin to that of Pakistan." He clarified that Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had offered Afghan officials to fence the border on the Afghan side as Pakistan is fencing the border and creating garrison on its side.
To a query, he said closed routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan will be reopened in six to nine months adding that such trade routes are being harnessed with modern technology which had already been installed at Chaman and Torkham borders. He further said Pakistan has set up number of checkposts at Pakistan, Afghanistan border due to which terror attacks have been dwindled down from the last three years.
He hoped that Afghanistan will also increase its checkposts on the border. The ISPR spokesperson said Pakistan had handed over a list of sixty four terrorists to Afghan government and seven of the terrorists of Haqqani Network have been killed, according to intelligence, rest of terrorists are still in Afghanistan. He also mentioned that the Haqqani Network has been wiped out from North Waziristan in the operation carried out by the armed forces.
He said TTP controlled the tribal areas and Malakand Division but following the military operations, the situation has entirely been changed. He said about 234000 troops have been in tribal areas whereas in 2001, the numbers of deployed troops were 34000.
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