KARACHI: The director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Babar Iftikhar has warned of the looming threat from sleeper cells of terrorist outfits and remains of such organisations, which can be activated if violence continues in Afghanistan for long.

“Also, it can increase residual threat in Balochistan, where different terror groups with the backing of hostile intelligence agencies could join hands and we have already shared a lot of information on this [with the media]. The recent few incidents also point towards this,” the military spokesman said in an interview with Dr Moeed Pirzada of 92 News on Saturday.

He said: “We all understand that if the Afghan situation deteriorates, it will have a direct bearing on Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan has the largest stake in peaceful Afghanistan. We have repeatedly said that peace in Pakistan is directly linked to peace in Afghanistan.”

Babar says FC capacity has been beefed up significantly

“We have fought a long war against terrorism and have gotten countless successes in it. We will not allow our hard-earned gains to be wasted,” he said.

While contemplating the deteriorating situation in the neighbouring country after the withdrawal of foreign forces without an Afghan-owned political settlement, Pakistan armed forces were well prepared as all measures had been taken to counter terrorism by ensuring that all safeguards were well in place, the DG ISPR asserted. “All necessary safeguards that we should have taken for the safety and security of the country have been taken,” he said.

Elaborating the measures taken since 2017, the ISPR chief said fencing of the Afghan border, which the army chief called ‘Fence of Peace’, was 90 per cent done and was about to be completed soon. He said work to fence the Pakistan-Iran border had also been expedited.

He said hundreds of forts and security posts had been built along the border, the border control system upgraded, a modern biometric system installed and ‘illegal crossing points’ on the Afghan border sealed. Even at the notified crossing points, regular troops had been deployed, because the current situation demanded so, he added.

He said the capacity of the Frontier Corps (FC) had been beefed up significantly, while over 40,000 policemen and 60,000 levies officials had been trained under the supervision of the Pakistan Army.

“A comprehensive system has been placed to counter the situation,” he added.

Asked about recent attacks on security forces, the ISPR chief said these events definitely had a relation with the situation developing on the other side [in Afghanistan]. “Due to our operations, there is no organised terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and the leadership of all these networks is sitting across in Afghanistan and they have had the support of [Indian intelligence agency] RAW and [Afghan intelligence agency] NDS. The recent events show their desperation,” he added.

Since May, KP and Balochistan witnessed 150 terrorist incidents, he pointed out. In 7,500 operations, Pakistani security forces killed 42 terrorists, while several troops and officers also embraced martyrdom.

“Let me assure you, we are conducting proactive and aggressive operations. We are going after them and they are fleeing. Our officers are leading the operations.”

“India is the biggest spoiler in the entire Afghan peace process. Their gestures and moves show their frustration,” he said. “Whoever sits in Kabul, if the situation in Afghanistan is stable, it will be very difficult for India to operate from there,” he added.

The ISPR chief said 40 Afghan soldiers who fled fighting in Afghanistan had crossed into Pakistan. “We gave them respect, food and gifts. And we respectfully handed them over to Afghan forces. This happened in Bajaur. We have always followed international norms,” he said while explaining that the Afghan vice president’s allegation regarding threat from Pakistan Air Force was “absolutely false, baseless”.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2021