PESHAWAR: Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asim Bajwa on Wednesday said that although the attention of the armed forces was divided due to aggression by Indian personnel on the country’s eastern front, the military was capable of giving an appropriate response.

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Bajwa said that despite tension on the Indo-Pak border, the deployment of troops in Fata would not be reduced.

The army spokesman said more than 1,100 terrorists were killed during Zarb-i-Azb and 44 others during Khyber-I operation. However, he once again declined to give a timeframe for the end of the operations underway in North Waziristan and Khyber, saying these would continue in the two tribal regions until the areas were cleared.

He did not specify when the internally displaced persons (IDPs) could return to North Waziristan and Khyber and said, “We are conducting a deliberate and sure-footed operation; whenever an area is cleared, the next step is to consolidate it and hand over its control to the political administration.”

“Even Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif had expressed the desire to send the IDPs back to their homes as soon as possible but these people need to be sent back to a better area," Bajwa said adding that, “We have a plan in place for this purpose and there is a sequence to follow.”

“We have special Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units to get rid of the recovered explosives and those explosives which cannot be disarmed are discarded via a controlled explosion,” the army spokesman said, adding that the disarmament of the huge quantity of explosives recovered consumes time.

“We are trying to share maximum information with the people but there is a lot of information that we have retrieved from the arrested suspects which cannot be disclosed. The militants who were killed and arrested included people of various nationalities.”

Bajwa further said that at least 2,500 raids had been carried out across the country with the help of intelligence agencies during the Zarb-i-Azb, Khyber – I and Karachi operations.

Speaking on Zarb-i-Azb, Bajwa said that the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, the Nato as well as the Afghan government had been taken into confidence before the launch of the operation.

We had informed them and sought cooperation from Afghanistan before the launch of Zarb-i-Azb but the Afghan side did not exhibit the kind of support we expected.

The army spokesman said the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership was present in Afghanistan from where it was operating.

“These militants had fled to Afghanistan during Zarbi-Azb but we will apprehend them,” Bajwa said.

Giving details of Khyber-I operation, he said “several militant hideouts have been destroyed…44 terrorists were killed and 100 terrorists arrested during the operation”. He further said that several militants had also been wounded during the military action.

Crime in Peshawar has decreased as a result of the Khyber-I operation, the DG ISPR claimed.

The ISPR DG said that although the attention of the armed forces was divided due to aggression by Indian personnel on the country’s eastern front, the military was capable of giving an appropriate response.

He said despite tension on the Indo-Pak border, the deployment of troops in Fata would not be reduced.

Responding to a question about claims made by a militant organisation that they had entered a deal with authorities, Bajwa said the use of Pakistani soil for any terrorist activity would not be allowed under any circumstances.

He added that the political setup existed to carry out the process of dialogue but the possibility of holding talks with militants was not likely since major operations against militants were underway in the country.

He claimed that militant outfits and their splinter groups often issued statements only to remain relevant and no heed should be paid to such statements.

Answering a question on the use of Afghan subscriber identification modules (SIMs) by militants in criminal and terrorist activities, he said the signals of Afghan telecommunication companies spilled over Pakistani territory which was dangerous for the country.

He added that the Afghan side was required to carry out work in this regard and certain mobile phone signal towers situated near the Pak-Afghan border area would have to be relocated.

Bajwa said the situation in Swat had improved and tourism had resumed in the region. He claimed that 10,000 vehicles visited Swat for tourism annually.

Regarding Muharram, the military’s spokesman said that the army’s assistance had been sought to provide security in 134 sensitive areas of the country.

He further said: “I would caution all people that whenever they come across any suspicious person or activity, they should immediately inform personnel from law enforcement agencies about it.”