ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top military commander at midnight on Tuesday said that there could be difference of opinion on counter terrorism strategy, however, to bow down before the militancy can never be a solution.
Speaking at the annual military parade at Kakul Military Academy in Abbottabad, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani emphasised on early execution of steps against terrorism by evolving a national consensus.
“It is important to get united, evolve a national consensus and implement it at earliest to find a solution,” he said.
“The war against terrorism can only be won when we all are on the same page….so there is no doubt in our and terrorists’ minds,” he added.
“We as a nation have never failed….and we will not in the future also,” said Kayani.
The statement from the army chief has surfaced when the newly elected government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is busy in preparing a new national security policy against terrorism.
Speaking during a press conference in Islamabad earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had outlined some key features of the government’s security policy to counter terrorism in the country, announcing to formulate a joint intelligence secretariat.
The minister said that preliminary draft of the national security policy will be presented to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif within two weeks, envisages activation of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and creation of Counter Terrorism Rapid Deployment Force.
The interior minister said a conference of heads of all parties represented in the parliament will be convened later this month. He said the government wants all stakeholders including the public, media and civil and military leadership on the same page before tackling the thorny issue of terrorism faced by the country.
The army chief, on the occasion however, refrained himself from issuing any statement regarding recent clashes between Pakistani and Indian forces at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.
