Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday declared that Pakistan’s fight against terrorism was “paramount” and could not be “sacrificed at the altar of anyone’s politics”.
He was addressing a press conference to rebut India’s claims of neutralising an individual linked to the Pakistan Army in an “encounter” in the Korag area of India-occupied Kashmir.
Taking on a question regarding political leaders in Pakistan who advocated for negotiating with the Afghan Taliban over terrorism, he said different people could have different thoughts on how to counter the menace.
“There is no problem in it. We need to discuss, and we need to come, and we need to say that yes, this is how we need to go forward and fight this.”
The military spokesperson maintained that the fight against terrorism was an “enduring fight, and this has to be won”. “We will win it,” he asserted, saying there was no other choice.
The DG ISPR said Pakistan was the “largest victim of terrorism” as it had been battling it for more than two decades and had lost more than 100,000 people in the process, besides facing economic losses.
“More than this, our political and social fabric has suffered badly.”
He recalled that as a result of the debate surrounding Pakistan’s counter-terror fight, the political leadership drafted the National Action Plan (NAP), then revised it, and finally came up with the ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ vision.
“These are the agreed consensual documents. You all and politicians have drafted them. Then follow them,” he emphasised.
Replying to the query, he said: “If there is terrorism in the region and if you create confusion in its narrative and don’t do capacity building, then the question comes: is this behaviour only incompetence, lack of understanding, indifference or willful collusion?
“These questions will arise because for us, the most important thing is: politics exists if the state does, democracy exists if the state does, you and I exist if the state does.”
Lt Gen Chaudhry said that Pakistan had an “existential threat from Indian-sponsored terrorism”.
He highlighted that the country’s police, intelligence, soldiers, and officers were fighting this war against terrorism on a daily basis.
“But then the other stakeholders, if they are not coming up, then the question is: why are you not fighting it? Why are you not standing [against it]? Are you doing it because you are a coward? Are you doing it because you are complicit?”
He further remarked that it was up to the people and government of Pakistan to “realise that”.
“This fight against terrorism is paramount. This cannot stop, this cannot be compromised, this cannot be sacrificed at the altar of anyone’s politics,” he asserted.
To another question regarding the PTI’s planned march to Islamabad on Oct 4, the DG ISPR said, “The army has got nothing to do with politics, and we will not answer anything about politics.
“I have made it repeatedly clear. Politics is for the political parties.”
