Opposition’s reservations over Operation Azm-i-Istehkam to be addressed, asserts defence minister – Pakistan

Following full-throated criticism from opposition parties, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday assured them that their reservations regarding the newly announced counterterrorism campaign ‘Operation Azm-i-Istehkam’ would be addressed.

On Saturday, the government had announced plans for a reinvigorated and re-energised national counterterrorism campaign, which entailed augmenting the kinetic efforts of the armed forces with support from all law enforcement agencies, as well as effective legislation to address legal voids that hinder effective prosecution of terrorism-related cases.

The announcement had come after a meeting of the Central Apex Committee of National Action Plan, which was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by key federal ministers, provincial chief ministers, army and airforce chiefs, and top bureaucrats.

However, opposition parties — including the PTI, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam—Fazl (JUI-F) and the Awami National Party (ANP) — had opposed the plan, both inside parliament and outside, demanding that the Parliament be consulted on the matter first.

Following the PTI’s protests during Sunday’s National Assembly session, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Monday even denied that any such thing was discussed with him during the apex committee meeting last week.

Meanwhile, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, alluding to the plan to conduct the operation, said the apex committee’s decision would make the country “weak”. Similar concerns were expressed by the ANP, which said that they would not support the move unless their reservations were addressed.

In an apparent response to these misgivings, the PM’s Office (PMO) clarified late on Monday night that the campaign would not be a kinetic large-scale military operation, nor would it entail the mass displacement of the local population.

The PMO pointed out that “previous kinetic operations were conducted to physically dislodge terrorists from their known locations which [became] no-go areas and compromised the writ of the state. These operations required mass displacement of the local population and systematic clearance of affected areas”.

“As there are no such areas in the country any more and terrorists’ ability to carry out large-scale organised operations inside Pakistan had been “decisively degraded by earlier kinetic operations… no large-scale military operation is being contemplated where displacement of population will be required,” the statement said.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore today, Khawaja Asif stated, “We will try to create consensus this time as well. We will definitely address the reservations expressed by the JUI-F, ANP and PTI.

“There are no political aims of this operation. We only want to challenge and end the rising wave of terrorism ongoing since the past few months,” he asserted.

Recalling the formation of the NAP after the 2014 Army Public School attack, the defence minister highlighted there was a “fundamental difference” between the situation back then and now.

Asif said there was a “sort of takeover” of the tribal areas of Fata at the time and they had become “no-go areas for day and night”. “Today, there is no such situation,” he added.

Noting that a few regions, such as Dera Ismail Khan and Balochistan at times witnessed activities of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), respectively, Asif asserted: “There is no such thing that Godforbid, the terrorists’ writ has been established on any territory.”

Terming the planned campaign a “continuation of the resolve made after 2016”, the minister said “certain quarters” were expressing concerns, adding that they were “incorrect”.

He stressed that the operation would be enforced once the required process had been completed, including its presentation before the federal cabinet today, after which it would be laid before the NA.

Asif said that all parties, including those in the opposition as well as allies in the coalition government, would be given time to debate on the matter.

He also clarified that there would be no mass displacement as in previous large-scale operations and that the proposed campaign would involve intelligence-based operations.

Azm-i-Istehkam is the latest in a series of counterterrorism operations launched by the Pakistan Army since the mid-2000s. More recent operations include Zarb-i-Azb, launched in 2014 by Gen Raheel Sharif to combat militants in North Waziristan, and Raddul Fasaad, initiated in 2017 under Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to eliminate what was then described as “residual terrorist threats” in the country.

While these operations achieved tactical successes, including the reduction of terrorist incidents and the elimination of high-value targets, they did not completely eradicate militancy from the country.

The decision also came right after a high-ranking Chinese official on Friday singled out security as the foremost challenge threatening the future of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).