Sharif vows action plan in a week to counter terror

Peshawar/Kabul, December 17

Pakistan today pledged to have a “national plan” ready within a week to counter terror with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying “this entire region should be cleaned of terrorism”. This comes a day after Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants attacked a Peshawar school leaving 148 persons, including 132 schoolchildren, dead.

Army chief General Raheel Sharif, who flew to Kabul today, sought extradition of TTP leader Mullah Fazlluah. Raheel, accompanied by ISI chief Lieut General Rizwan Akhtar, told the Afghan civil and military leadership that terrorists were using Afghan soil to carry out attacks in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif while speaking to the media after an all-party meeting said they had unanimously decided to form a parliamentary committee, headed by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to chalk out a national plan of action in seven days and present it before the national leadership.

Members of the armed forces, intelligence and political parties will be a part of the committee. The government will present the plan before the nation after consultations with the military leadership, said Sharif.

The meeting was attended by leaders of various political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Khan. “We announce that there will be no differentiation between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban and have resolved to continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist is eliminated,” Sharif said, adding “the fight against terrorism is our fight and to counter it, a holistic roadmap is needed”.
He thanked national leaders, particularly Imran Khan, for attending the meeting despite differences with the government. Sharif said not only Pakistan and Afghanistan but “this entire region should be cleaned of terrorism”. Sharif flanked by Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah and Imran Khan condemned the attack terming it the worst in Pakistan’s history. "This heinous incident is an example of the barbarism whose example cannot be found in the history," he said.
On the ongoing military operation against militants in North Waziristan, Sharif said: "Operation Zarb-e-Azb is continuing successfully but what we have decided today encompasses how to tackle terrorism from the whole country." Regarding lifting the ban on death penalty in terror cases, Sharif said, "We have proposed terror cases should be expedited."
"If terrorists are not punished, then who will be punished?" he said. Sharif also said important legal steps will be taken to plug loopholes in the justice system so that militants should not use them to escape punishment.
"To defeat terrorism we must unite... our armed forces have given many sacrifices to defeat terrorism and root out their hideouts," he said.
"I am gratefully to the national leadership for showing unity and confidence in me," he said.
In Kabul, Raheel Sharif sought Afghanistan help in battling the militants behind the massacre. The visit comes after it emerged that Taliban commander Umar Naray masterminded the attack. Sources said Naray had been issuing directives to militants for carrying out the attack.
“The time has arrived for Afghanistan and Pakistan to act together against terrorism and extremism with honesty and effectiveness,” Ghani said in a statement. Pakistan said it had shared intelligence with Ghani.  — Agencies