Army vows to hunt down terrorists by adopting ‘whole-of-the-system’ approach

RAWALPINDI: The army’s top brass has vowed to hunt down the terrorists through a “whole-of-the-system" approach which will lead towards eradicating permissive factors of terrorism, extremism and instability in the country.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in a statement issued in this regard on Saturday, stated that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir presided over the 257th Corps Commanders’ Conference held at General Headquarters Rawalpindi to review domestic and regional environment including external and internal security challenges Pakistan confronts.

“The forum affirmed that military leadership is cognizant of the full spectrum of the challenges and it resolves to shoulder its constitutionally mandated responsibilities with the support of the resilient people of Pakistan,” the military’s media wing said a day after the army chief's briefing to the lawmakers on national security.

The military’s top brass reiterated the commitment of the armed forces to fully support national responses against internal and external threats.

“It highlighted that while security forces are undertaking intelligence-based operations in areas along the western border, there was a need to adopt a whole-of-the-nation and whole-of-the-government approach to eradicate the menace of terrorism on a long-term basis,” the statement read.

Moreover, ISPR added that the forum expressed its assurance to pursue the goals set by the National Security Committee (NSC) to turn the tide against terrorism through the coordinated application of all elements of national power.

'Terrorists had no other option'

A day earlier, the army chief — while speaking during the in-camera national security session at the National Assembly hall — said that the armed forces were ready for maintaining durable peace in the country and intelligence-based operations were underway in the wake of the recent resurgence of terrorism.

He stressed that besides the security agencies, all the government departments, whether legal, economic, social or external, etc would have to join the campaign against anti-state elements.

The COAS underlined that terrorists had no other option but to accept the writ of the state. The negotiations with the terrorists had resulted in the emergence of more terrorist groups, he regretted.