This is apropos a Business Recorder news item "Army decides to comb South Punjab" carried by the newspaper on Wednesday. According to it, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa chaired a crucial Corps Commanders meeting at General Headquarters Rawalpindi. During the meeting, the army chief was briefed about the suicide blast at Mall Road of Lahore. The army chief also approved a combing operation inside southern Punjab during the meeting.
That the army leadership has responded to the Lahore carnage in a highly meaningful manner is a fact. The highly populated part of Punjab, southern Punjab, has been under the radar of intelligence agencies for quite some time. It was required to be combed but the PML-N governments in Islamabad and Lahore were resisting any move aimed at launching any operation against militants for political expediencies. The army's decision must be backed by the civilian governments in letter and in spirit.