Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has said that the government is making all efforts to tackle the menace of terrorism in all its dimensions.
"Many countries in the contemporary world, including Pakistan, are confronted with the evil of terrorism wherein the performance of our security forces is satisfactory," the minister told a private television channel on Thursday.
"The government and security forces in Pakistan are facing a lot of challenges over the past few years," he said, adding, had they shown slight negligence the situation would have been worse.
He said: "Some countries are spending billions of dollars on their security arrangements and even then they have not been able to fully control the activities of terrorists, particularly the suicide attacks." He said, "If compared in this perspective the performance of Pakistan's security forces is appreciable."
"Our security forces have secured mention-able successes during the last two years by dismantling the terrorist networks despite a number of domestic compulsions," the minister said.
He said the terrorism and extremism, if not eradicated, would become a major threat to the entire civilised world in the days to come. Pakistan was making all efforts in its capacity to root out these evils from the society, he added.
SUICIDE ATTACKS: To a question regarding increase in the frequency of suicide attacks in the country he said, "it is a result of Pakistan's firm determination to stand as a frontline state in international anti-terrorism drive."
He said the organisations of these people in the country have been rendered either hollow or dismantled. "So suicide attacks appear to be the last ditch effort on part of the desperate elements after having no other way to carry on their activities," he added.
"There are some people in the society, who pursue and convince the innocent and illiterate individuals for conducting such acts," he said, adding, "their activities find no backing whatsoever in Islam." He said the government agencies were trying hard to reach the main sources of these elements.
To another question he said, Pakistan is a nuclear state and its nuclear programme is for its defence.
"Maintaining minimum deterrence is a guarantee of our sovereignty and national integrity and we have no need to roll back the nuclear programme in any way," he said. "There is no pressure whatsoever on Pakistan in this regard," he added.
NATIONAL ASSET: "Pakistan's nuclear programme is its national asset and the government as well as people are bound to protect it," he said.
Responding yet to another question he said, it has become almost a trend on part of certain media channels to spread the news of Osama's arrest after every 2-3 months. "All such reports are mere speculations and rumours," he said, adding, "however Pakistan's security forces are making all efforts to either eject or arrest the remains of Al Qaida, Taleban."
"The operations in the tribal areas are focused in this direction," he said, adding, "the confirmed whereabouts of such figures are unknown as yet."